1 


L 





^y .c 



RE POUT 



COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 



•^ 



THE DISEASES OF CATTLE 



-<^'!, & 
f/ i - 



THE UNITED STATES. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1871. 



I.N TiiK Skxate of the Uxited STATES, June 3, 1870. 
Iliaolved bi/ the Sciinle, {the Home of Itipreienlaticc-i cniicio-rint/,) Tlint tlieie be printed six thousand extra copies of 
the reports on the " Diseases of Cattle in the United States," presenting the results of investigations ordered by Congress 
and conducted under the direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture, with illustrations representing various stages 
of disease, including six iihoto-micrographs, and not exceeding eight colored plates; of which one thousand five hun- 
dred copies shall be for the use of the members of the St-nate, three thousand for the use of the members of the House 
of Representatives, and one thousand live hundred for the Commissioner of Agriculture. 

Attest: GEO. C. GORHAM, 

Sccrclari/. 



In the IIorsE of EErnF.SE.VTATivEs, Jtih/ 14, 1870. 
Hceolred, That the House concur in the foregoing resolution of the Senate in relation to the printing of the 
reports on the "Diseases of Cattle in the United States." 

Attest : KDWARD McPHERSOX, Clerk, 

By CLINTON LLOYD, Chhf Clerk. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

RoiJorti of the Commissioner of Agriculture 1 

Raport of Professor Gamgee ou the luug plague 3 

Report of Dr. J. J. AVootlward ou the iiathological anatomy and histology of the respiratory organs iu the iileu- 

ro-imeumonia of cattle 64 

Report of Professor Garageo on the ill eii'eets of smutty corn in the feed of farm animals 73 

Report of Professor Gamgee ou the splenic or periodic fever of cattle 82 

Report of Drs. Billings and Curtis of results of examinations of fluids of diseased cattle with reference to the 

presence of cryptogamio growths 156 

Report of H. W. Ra veuel ou the fungi of Texas 171 

Report of J. R. Dodge on statistical and historical investigations of the progress and results of the Texas cattle 

disease 175 



ILLUSTRATIONS, 



tlinOMO-MTHOGIiAnis. 

Page. 

I. Kxtcrual surface of luug, showing tlio effusion ou the pleural surface iu pleuro-pneumonia 58 

II. Tortiou of lung, sUowiug the appearance in the pleuro-pneumonia of cattle 58 

III. Portion of hinj; from a cow ileail of pleuro-pneumonia 58 

.MR'l{(>-l'III)TO(iIiAFIIS. 

IV. Section of hcaltliy portion of lung, showing cpitliclinm, from a cow dead of epidemic pleuro-pneumonia.. 7-i 
Y. Section of inllamed portion of lung, showing pus corpuscles in tlie air vesicles, from a cow dead of epi- 
demic pleuro-imeumonia . 72 

VI. Section of inflamed ixution of hing, .showing pus corpuscles in the air vesicles, from a cow dead of epi- 

demic plenro-pne\inionia ''i 

VII. Section of inilauied i)i)rtiou of iicrieardium. showing new elements, from a cow dead of epidemic pleuro- 

pneumonia '''■^ 

VIII. I'ortion of the exudation in tlic pericardinm, showing pus cells, from a cow dead of epidemic pleuro-pneu- 
monia "2 

IX. Section of inflamed fat, showing inflammatory products between the fat cells, from the fat ahout the peri- 
cardium of a cow dead of epidemic pleuro-pneumonia ; 72 

CllTiDMO-MTIIOC.H.Vl'lls. 

X. Tlic spleen, incised, in splenic fever 132 

XI. The heart, in splenic fever 132 

XII. The kidney, in splenic fever i:i2 

XIII. Illustrating the condition of the peritoneal surface of the uterus, in splenic fever 132 

I.rillOGR.lPH. 

XIV. Illustrating cryptogramic growths in the fluids of diseased cattle. Tig. 1, Micrococns ; Fig. 2, Bacteria ; Fig. 

3, Cryptococcns (common form) ; Fig. 4, Cryptococcus guttnlatus (C'h. Kobin) ; Fig. 5, Penicillium 
crustaceuni (Fr.. old) ; Fig. 7, Aspergillus; Figs. 8, 9, 10, Mncoz racemosus (Fres.), from Hoft'man ; Fig. 
11, Blood from splenic fever X 4i)0 ; Fig. 12, Bacteria from bile of splenic fever X 1200 ; Fig. 13, Myee- 
liun\ with .sporangial dilations, result of culture of '.splenic fever blood 170 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Sir : I have the honor to present for pubhcation a series of reports on various 
diseases of cattle, giving the results of investigations undertaken, first as a duty imposed 
by the organic law originating this Department, and subsequently continued in pursuance 
of the direct authority of Congress, and with the aid of an apjiropriation in furtherance 
of the work. 

About the middle of June, 1868, a disease broke out at Cairo, Illinois, at a point 
where large numbers of Texas cattle had been landed. It was the disease sometimes 
called "Spanish fever," but generally known as " Texas cattle disease." This epizootic, 
long known and dreaded by owners of herds in Missouri and Kansas, and to some extent 
in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, became unusually serious in the track of Texas 
cattle beyond the Mississippi, in 1867 and 1868. While it was practically unknown in 
more eastern States, general interest in its manifestations was not aroused ; but, when a 
new channel for the Texas cattle trade was opened, and the river steamboats knded their 
living freight in the heart of the West, the ravages of tlie strange disease extended rapidly, 
carrying infection along the pathway of trans2:)ortation to the seaboard, filling the public 
mind with alarm for the safety of farm stock, and even exciting ajiprehensions that the 
public health might become involved in the future progress of the disease. 

From Cairo the disease spread rapidly, breaking out among the native cattle exposed 
to the migrating stock, at all points of railroad transshipment. My attention was called 
to the serious nature of this disease when visiting the fair of the State Agricultural Society 
at Springfield, Illinois, and I immediately secured the services of Professor Gamgee, of 
London, England, who was at the time in this country, to make full investigation, under 
the following instructions : 

lu view of tbe alarming auil toutiiiued lavages of the cattle ilisea.se in Illinois, known pojinlarly as the 
" Spanish fever," and assumed to be communicated by cattle recently from Texas, I hereby authorize you to make 
investigations into its cause and character, and to ascertain aud report, if possible, a practicable remedy or means of 
prevention. 

In accordance with this letter, the professor visited the infected districts in Illinois 
and vicinity, and extended his observations to the cattle depot at Abilene, in Kansas. 

In the spring of 1869, in company with Mr. H. W. Eavenel, of South Carolina, an 
accomplished botanist, he visited that part of Texas on and near the Gulf coast, and 
examined into the conditions of food and management of the native cattle of Texas at 
those points at which transportation begins. The observations made are embodied in 
the accompanying reports of Messrs. Gamgee and Ravenel. 

Four cliromo-lithographs, illustrating the effects of splenic fever on the internal organs, 
are presented in connection with the report upon that disease. 



2 DKI'AKTMKNT OF ACJKIClLTrntE. 

As many forms of contagious disease are supposed to be due to zymotic or fermentative 
chancres in the blood, in connection with which a microscopic cryptogamous vegetation is 
constantly present in a growing condition, and as European and American microscopists 
have asserted that this epizootic is a disease of this character, it became essential to the 
success of this investigation that such microscopic examination should be skillfully made. 
A request was accordingly made by this Department to Brevet Brigadier General J. K. 
Barnes, Surgeon General United States Army, that Doctors J. S. Billings and E. Curtis, 
assistant surgeons United States Army, might be authorized to assist Professor Gamgee 
in his experiments upon the subject of the cryptogamic causes of disease. The Surgeon 
General authorized these gentlemen to enter upon that duty, and their report is appended. 

The rapid extension of pleuro-pneumonia during the summer of 1868, and its increased 
fatality at points where cattle were collected in numbers, made it the duty of the Depart- 
ment to ascertain its nature, extent, and the possible means of checking or wholly 
obliterating it. I therefore authorized Professor Gamgee, in the autumn of 1868, to make 
a full investigation of the disease then spreading through many States of the Union. 
In December of that year Professor Gamgee presented a preliminary report, which was 
jmblished in the monthly reports of 1868. His final report was first published with the 
preliminary reports of cattle diseases issued in the autumn of 1869, of which this is an 
enlarged edition. 

By the favor of Surgeon General Barnes, and under his direction, a further scientific 
investigation of this disease has been made by Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Woodward, assistant 
surgeon United States Army, whose report on the pathological anatomy and histology of 
the respiratory organs in the pleuropneumonia of cattle, just received, is here presented, in 
connection with six micro-photographs illustrating the condition of the diseased organs. 

Three chromo-lithographs accompany the report upon pleuropneumonia. 

These reports are followed by a statistical history of the splenic fever, or Texas cattle 
disease, by J. R. Dodge, statistician of this Department, in which the devastations of this 
peculiar and native malady arc unmistakably traced back into the eighteenth century. 

It need not be presumed that these investigations are conclusive or final ; on the 
contrary, some practical problems not yet fully demonstrated urgently demand examina- 
tion. Among these are the best mode of arresting contagion and the proper regulation of 
cattle transportation northward. A general law in the interest of the public health, of an 
enlightened humanity, and of the cattle trade, should regulate the transportation of cattle, 
not only from the Gulf States, but on the great eastern routes and throughout the country. 

HOPvACE CAPRON, 

Commissioner. 

ildU. SciIUYLKR COLI-AX, 

President of the Senate. 



REPORT OF PROFESSOR GAMGEE ON THE LUNG PLAGUE. 



Sir : The lung plague of cattle, developed alone as the result of contagion, recedes and 
is extinguished wherever the people are fully informed of its origin and nature, and meas- 
ures based on such knowledge are adopted and enforced. Americans can learn this from 
Massachusetts. It is, however, the most insidious and the most deceptive of all malignant 
bovine disorders. It penetrates and travels far and wide, where unsuspecting farmers and 
dairymen are far from skilled in the veterinary art. It kills, and yet there are survivors 
which resist all further attacks, and in the course of time they tend to form a small but 
useful nucleus of insusceptible stock, which enables the people to go on, though in pov- 
erty, and hope for better luck. Every one strives, but in secret, lest the publication of 
facts should prevent the sale and transfer of unhealthy or infected stock. Long Island, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, furnish wide 
fields in which to determine the truth of these statements. 

In perusing the history of contagious pleuropneumonia, it will be found that the 
experiences of the New World are but repetitions of those recorded by Europeans. 

In advising as to the most certain means whereby so destructive a malady may be 
eradicated from this country, I have been actuated by the belief that the diffusion of knowl- 
edge, in a form that will carry conviction home to every intelligent American, is the most 
certain means whereby to deal a death blow to the lung plague. There are many prudent 
and earnest leaders of the agricultural body in every State, who can work, and will work, 
if armed with reliable information ; and it is my belief in this that has induced me to 
spare no labor in rendering this as complete and satisfactory a record as possible of all the 
knowledge on the subject that is at present at our disposal. Farmers must not be alarmed 
at the scientific garb which must necessarily invest such a work. If they follow me 
through, without a dictionary, they will not be left in doubt as to my meaning, and I hope 
not a few will rise, after a perusal of what follows, even though they may inhabit the far 
distant prairies and the mountains of California, and exclaim that it is the duty of every 
American, and especially of every American farmer, to manifest his interest in the extinc- 
tion of a malady that may for centuries, if left unheeded now, harass the stock-raisers of 
the entire continent, and bring poverty and ruin to many thousands of families. 

The report has been presented, for convenience of reference, under the following 
heads : 

I. Names by which the lung plague is or has been known in different parts ot the 
world . 

II. History of the lung plague from the remotest to the present time. 

III. Signs or symptoms by which the disease is recognized during life. 

IV. Signs or appearances by which it is recognized after death. 



4 ])i;paetm]':nt of aCxRicultuee. 

V. How the disease is induced, with special reference to prcilisposing causes and 
the iiature of contagion. 

VI. The patliology or nature of lung plague. 
VII. Medical or curative treatment of the lung plague. 
VIII. Prevention of the lung plague. 

NOMENCLATURE. 

The popular term "murrain" was applied, in times past, to all fatal cattle diseases that 
prevailed in an epizootic form. The first satisfactory description of the lung plague, 
written by Bourgelat, in 1769, teaches us that the malady has been known for some years 
in Franche-Comte, under the name "muriey The expression "pulmonary murrain" has 
been somewhat extensively used in Great Britain of late years, especially when reference 
has been made to the outbreaks of the last century, which have been considered as due to 
the simultaneous introduction into the British Isles of the Steppe murrain, commonly 
known as the rinderpest and cattle plague, and contagious lung disease. 

When free trade first admitted continental cattle and the lung plague into the British 
Isles within this century, the dairymen who first observed the new fatal foot and mouth 
disease at once bccamo alarmed at the "new disease," which proved incurable. Professor 
FTcrtwig, of Berlin, and correspondents of agricultural papers, soon enabled our veterina- 
rians to recognize in the "new disease" the Lungenseuche, or, literally, lungs' plague of 
cattle, wliich li;id been studied with great ability by the veterinary surgeons of Germany. 
Haller had termed it Vie/iseuche, and expressed his astonishment that it had not Ijeen 
recognized as a disease of the lungs. 

German writers were so numerous tliat attempts were not rare to give a scientific 
name to the disease, and Sauberg quotes seven Latin sentences employed by diflPerent au- 
thorities in accordance with the views of the nature and origin of the disease. They are : 

Peripneujnonia pecorum epizootica typhosa — Veith, Tscheulin, Burger. 

Peripneumonia exsvdativa contagiosa — Rychner, Van Her turn. 

Peripneumonia exsudativa enzoolica et contagiosa — Gielen. 

Peripneumonia s. pleurop>neumonia pecorum enzootica — Dieterich, Vix. 

Pleuritis rheumatico-exsudativa — Wagenfeld . 

Pleuropneumonia inierlobularis exsudativa — Gluge. 

Pneumonia catarrhalis gastrica asthenica — Naimiann. 

Haller's title of Viehseuche is now almost always restricted to the Russian murrain, 
and the name in universal use in Germany is the popular one of Lungenseuche, and on 
the title-pages of monographs the ordinary expression employed is Lungenseuche des 
Rindviehes. It has, however, also been termed Ijungenfdule and Krehsartige Lungenfiiule. 

Of the French authors, Chabert first names the malady Pcripneumonie, ou Affection 
gangrhieuse du poumon. Iluzard describes it under the head Pcripneumonie chronique, 
ou Phthisie pidmonaire, and in 184-1 Delafond designated it Prripneumonie contagiexise du 
gros biiail. 

Tlie Dutch called it Kivaadaardige Slijmiiekte, Ileerschende or Besmettelijke Long- 
ziekte, Slijmziekte, Slijmlongziekte, and Rotachtige Longziekte. 

In Italy it has been known by the names Pulmonea dei bovini, and Pleuropneumonia 
essudativa. 



THE LUMI PLAGUE. 5 

I am disposed to favor, as a popular name, that of '■lung plague," in order to avoid 
any confusion with sporadic and non-contagious affections of the chest. Many years ago 
Mr. Sarginson, of Westmoreland, England, spoke of it as an epizootic influenza among 
cattle, and Mr. Barlow, afterward a much respected professor in the Edinburgh Veterin- 
ary College, was among the first to draw attention to the disease under the head epizootic 
pleuropneumonia. 

HISTORY OP THE LUNG PLAGUE. 

Ancient traditions and imperfect records rather tend to bewilder those who, from the 
inferences warranted by a complete knowledge of recent events, are anxious to place before 
the world evidence of the laws of nature having been immutable from time immemorial. 
Our ideas of creation, and the facts bearing on the origin of all things, are too meager to 
warrant us in being confident of our interpretations of the past ; and yet glimpses of light 
seem to promise a better understanding of even antediluvian phenomena in almost every 
branch of natural history. 

The assertion that plagues known now to be propagated alone by contagion have thus 
been transmitted from the remotest antiquity, is usually met by objectors with the declara- 
tion that the first case must have developed spontaneously. Professor Haubner, of Dres- 
den,* accepting the proposition, says : "It is correct that the lung plague was once devel- 
02:)ed spontaneously, for no one can suppose that Noah had it with him in the ark." I^ut 
we- can point to a contagious disease, scab in sheep, which, if the words of the Bible are 
to be accepted, indicate the preservation of the scab insect. It is not my desire to enter 
on discussions which have no direct practical bearing, and I shall dismiss the objections of 
those who spare themselves the labor of inquiry after positive truth, by declaring that, so 
far as science has yet taught us, the great law, that like produces like, operates in the 
increase of certain animal poisons or forms of specific virus, just as in the case of other 
living entities whose reproduction is undoubted. Spontaneous generation — the theory of 
development by an accidental cohesion and vivifying of inert matter — ably as it has been 
defended up to the present day, is fast passing into oblivion. We are, and must probably 
remain, in ignorance of that final cause which once molded and gave life to all that is 
living. All that is living, however, owes that life to parents, and such has been the case 
ever since the globe became inhabited ; and there are no facts to indicate that one form of 
living matter grew out of another, and a totally different, form, or that there were successive 
stages in the creation of animals or parts of animals. Animal poisons are known to us, 
it is true, only as parts of animals. They are undistinguishable except from the results 
produced by them on the creatures they infest, and yet they are as foreign to them as the 
countless parasites that are only known to us as abiding in the living tissues of living 
beings. Indeed, animal poisons may be regarded as parasitic productions, and their dif- 
ference from the more apparent types of organized entities may be due more to imperfect 
means of observation than to actual diversity. 

Efforts are, indeed, being made to demonstrate the vegetable origin of many animal 
poisons, and it is supposed by some that cryptogamic plants, fungi, &c., not only approach 

* Die Entstelinng uml Tilguug der Lungeuseuche des Eiudes, von Dr. Karl H.auljner, Leipzig, 1801. 



(5 I)i:rAKT.MENT OV AGRICULTURE. 

more the nature of many forms of specific virus, but actually constitute tlie contagium or 
active principle which breeds and propagates in the development of small-pox, cholera, 
the plagues of the lower animals, &c. There is one grave objection to all that has yet 
been done in this interesting field of inquiry. The vegetable forms into which poisons are 
said to pullulate have not, in a single instance, been successfully employed in the repro- 
duction of the diseases they have been supposed to generate. 

Delafond* quotes Aristotle, who wrote his work on the History of Animals three 
hundred and fifty-four years before Christ, to prove that cattle were then known to sufi"er 
from a disease of the lungs. "The cattle," he says, "which live in herds are subject to 
a malady, during which the breathing becomes hot and frequent. The ears droop, and 
they cannot eat. They die rapidly, and on opening them the lungs are found spoiled." 

In the collection of extracts and writings of the Greek veterinarians, made by order 
of the Emperor Constantino, descriptions of the lung diseases of cattle are given which 
may lead us to infer the prevalence even then of the lung pla^ue.f 

It would be simply waste of time to discuss the merits of unsatisfactory hints — for 
they are not records — which have been traced in the writings of Livy, Vegetius, Silius 
Italicus, Columella, Virgil, and others ; hints which, no doubt, demonstrate that which 
few will question — that pulmonary disorders have existed throughout all time. 

The evidence that we need is that definite record of outbreaks of a malady marked 
by the leading characteristics of the lung plague. We have to ski]) the age of pure quack- 
ery, when nothing but the unsatisfactory prescriptions of ignorant pretenders in veterinary 
medicine were handed down as valuable additions to human knowledge. A purpose is 
served, however, by referring to these dark ages, when, in their blindness, men sought to 
arrest the unrelenting torrents of fierce contagions by pills, draughts, charms, and incan- 
tations. It makes one blush for the errors and superstitions which, in the Old AVorld and 
in the New, have prevailed up to (In; ju'esont liour. For seven and twenty years, at least, 
the people of Great Britain have, in the main, favored "nothing but quackery in this re- 
spect, just as much as continental nations that suffered in ignorance did in the seventeen 
hundred years succeeding the birth of Christ. So late as 1865 the outbreak of a virulent 
cattle plague in England developed in its train the compounders of drugs and filth, and the 
believers in the treatment of isolated cases of a plague ; of a plague, indeed, which advances 
in direct ratio to the delay in extinguishing its virulent poison, and the rapidity of whose 
spread may be likent>d to that of the confluent mountain waters that form the inland seas and 
navigable streams. Let the people learn i'rom the ancient history of veterinary medicine, as 
they can learn from recent events, that to dam the Mis.sissippi and annihilate its waters is 
quite as easy a process as attempting to save a country from incalculable loss bv the med- 
ical treatment of isolated cases of a specific and contagious cattle plague. 

That is the lesson which the want of. knowledge regarding the lung plague in the first 
seventeen hundred years of the Christian era impresses upon us to-day. The wisdom 
of that conclusion may be demonstrated by tracing up the progress of the- malady from 
1693 to 1869. 

"TraiM siii- l:i Malailic <\r INiitriiic dn finis Hi^tail, ciiiiinic sous Ic noiii dc IVriiniomnonic Coutagicuse, par O. Dfla- 
foiul, Paris, 1H44. . 

tG<'0]>mii<»niiii. sen il,- 1{.. I{iistita. I.ili. XX— .(lilcd liy I'l-tii- NciiUiaiii, ( uniliridur, 1704— Quoted by S.-nilierji. 



THE LUNG PLA(!UK. 7 

The first notice, that may be declared less unsatisfactory than all preceding ones, of the 
ravages produced by an epizootic bovine pleuropneumonia, we owe to Valentini.* There 
is a fact of great importance in relation to the history and progress of pleuropneumonia 
that writers generally have overlooked. Valentini's remarks, incomplete as they are, had 
been anticipated by numerous reports concerning the spread of the foot and mouth disease, 
or epizootic aphthse, from east to west. As contagious cattle diseases travel in the lines of 
communication established by war or trade, so do they appear together or in succession 
according to their nature, the length of their period of incubation, and the cirrumstances 
under which the movement of cattle is conducted. 

It will serve to clear up many points of doubt if this point is understood. Epizootic 
aphthse, or the foot and mouth disease, {Maul und Klauenseuche of the Germans,) has a 
short latent stage of two or three days. It moreover spreads to all warm-blooded animals, 
so that herds infected with contagious diseases might on their travels, as they often are, 
be seized by this malady, and then the Steppe inurrain or rinderpest, which has a latent 
stage of a week, or the lung plague, which remains latent for a month, six weeks, or more, 
may break out wherever signs of communication between cattle of different parts have 
been furnished by the rapidly-evolving and curable aphthte. The poison of one disease 
does not counteract or prevent the accession of either of the other two, und one animal 
may have the three maladies in succession. In Germany, France, Holland, and England, 
the foot and mouth disease has usually preceded outbreaks of lung disease, and even rin- 
derpest. In America this has not been the case, inasmuch as the voyage across the At- 
lantic has usually been sufficient to purge animals of the contagion of epizootic aphthse, 
even if they had been shipped with the disease on them, which is not likely, from its very 
obvious and rapid manifestations. 

It is necessary to make one more remark here, which may serve to facilitate the accu- 
rate reading of the history of cattle plagues. Although the lung plague has undoubtedly 
prevailed more constantly, and produced a total mortality greater than that due to the 
Steppe murrain, nevertheless the rapid slaughter of cattle by rinderpest at once sets people 
to adopt repressive measures, and, both by killing and isolating the disease itself, tends to 
supersede other cattle plrgues. When it enters a country like Great Britain, where all 
animals which had a slight chance of contamination from public markets were more or less 
infected with the virus of lung plague, rinderpest naturally reached those spots first, cleared 
the cattle out, and extinguished pleuropneumonia. 

Now we shall_ see that the histories of the three maladies I have alluded to are in 
many points practically inseparable, so far as their dissemination in Europe is concerned, 
and this fact alone would suffice to induce me to refer to the American outbreaks separately. 



* Writing with but a smaU .selection of books tiom my library, I am in a position to give only a second-hantl refer- 
ence to Valentini's observations, and their irajiortanoe induces me to reproduce Heusinger's quotation : " Prfecodente 
hyeme pluvio.so, sed in fine gelidissimo, sub primo vere et insolitus acris fervor iugruebat, qualis et per omnem testatia 
cursum observabatur ; fjute mutatio subitanea non poterat non insequalem et prieternatnralem humornni et spirituuni 
motiim causare, queni et hominum et brutorum strages insecuta est. Boves sani et vaccic catervatini snccnnilicbant, 
cujus ri'i causa statuebatur inter alia ros eorrosivus, lintea macnlis plus minus luteis conspurcans, et omnino c(uroden«. 
Ex earnificum observatioue plerumque phthisi pulmonali necabantur, ad quam sine dubio haustus fiigidje copiosior 
post a>stum intensissimum multuni contribuere poterat. Hominibus prieter dysenteriam et febres maUgnas svib fineni 
Junii et iuitium Aiigusti hie locorum infensa erat febris qiBdam intermittens, ut plurimum tertiana." Ephem. Nat. Cur. 
et Sydenham, opp. ed Geneva, 1, p. 276 — quoted in Kechercheg de Pathologie C'ompar(5e — Cassel, 1853. 



8 Di;PAl!TMi;XT OF AdIMCULTrUE. 

Ill 1686-'87 the foot and mouth disease was noticed in Silesia, and other parts of 
Eastern Europe. In 1695 Valentini described the coincident inflanimation of the feet of 
cattle and ai^htha) in man.* And thus it established, beyond doubt, tliat the influences 
operating in the transmission of contagious pleuropneumonia were at work tlicn. Valen- 
tini committed the common error of attributing the lung plague to the weather, but his 
reference to a wide-spread pulmonary disorder among cattle is sufficiently distinct to war- 
rant our dissenting from Delafond when he says that nothing can authorize the conclu- 
sion that the disease described by Valentini was the pleuropneumonia which prevails to- 
day among horned cattle. 

Sauberg, whose prize essay on the lung plague is worthy of the highest praise, draws 
attention to the fact that the proj^agation westward of the Russian murrain, at the com- 
mencement of the eighteenth century, directed the attention of the most learned naturalists 
and physicians to tlie investigation of the plagues of animals, and thus a marked influence 
was exerted in the development of veterinary science. 

Kanold, Steurlin, Raraazzini, Lancisi, Bates, Lanzoni, Sebroek, Fischer, Scheuchzer, 
Bottoni, Muratori, Camper, Haller, and numerous others, have contributed to enrich the 
science of comparative pathology by references to outbreaks of epizootic aphtha;, lung plague, 
rinderpest, variolous fevers, carbuncular, and other diseases, which committed great havoc 
up to the time that an illustrious Frenchman, Bourgelat, resolved to establish a college 
for the education of veterinary surgeons. All references to the contagious pleuropneumo- 
nia are of little practical moment until we come to the labors of Bourgelat himself. He 
did not, it is true — as no one ever did — on first studying this disease, recognize its con- 
tagious character. He met with it in Franche-Comte, whcr*.' it had been known for years 
under the name of " murie.' He described it as distinguished by a short dry cough, much 
fever, great oppression, especially after an animal has eaten anything, loss of appetite, 
fetor of breath, dryness of nose, and sometimes discharge of thick whitish matter from the 
nostrils. His description of the pleuritic adhesions, the deposits of gelatinous layers of 
different colors around the lungs, the lividity and engorgement of the lungs, and distension 
of the chest by a reddish, frothy, sanious, or purulent liquid, is entirely satisfactory, and 
indicates how much in advance of his times Bourgelat was in his description of this malady. 
As there has been a disj)osition to revive the treatment of the lung plague by fumigations, 
I may mention that, among other remedies, Bourgelat recommended acetic acid to be used 
in this way. 

The malady which had thus stationed itself in France, had also established secure 
hold in other parts of Europe, and we learn of its prevalence in 1743 in Zurich and the 
adjacent cantons of Switzerland. It continued to invade that country by importations from 
the grand duchy of Baden, and in 1773 the great physiologist, Haller, published the ablest 
niemoir on this disease that appeared during the eighteenth century .f He spoke of it as 
a lung disease, beginning as an inflanimation, which passes into gangrene, or at other times 
into abscess and ends in a true marasmus. " It is very Avonderful," he adds, " that among 
the many modern physicians who have written on this plague, which has been observed so 
generally and for so long, that they have not noticed the seat of the disease to be in the 



• .Snii ii-(|uiii<ictii> aiitumnali .iiigusto decrepiti), iniianiniutio ■•iiigivaniui, lingua- et oris iii liomiuibu.s, in lirntis 
vi'iiiiH jinlnni intlaniniationrs. nhservavi liinr indr. — I.iic. C'il. 

I .M.liaMilhniu' V(.ii .Irr Virlistiulw. Viin lliiin .Ml). Haller. Mcin. 1773, 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 9 

lungs." Haller determined its cause and said, "Above all, ive must abandon all hope that 
the lu7ig disease is not a contagious disease. * * * *' * At all events, it is certain 
that in our land, as often as the lung plague has appeared among cattle, the origin of the 
disease has always been traced to the purchase of an animal from a suspected market, or 
to one brought from an infected district into our land. At other times our country people 
have fattened cattle with other cattle from infected parts." 

It is hard to trace the course of a disease during periods when little attention was 
paid to comparative pathology. From 1774 to 1776 the lung plague prevailed in Istria 
and Dalmatia.* Epizootic aphthae made steady inroads from Eastern Europe into Austria 
and other parts of the Continent. From 1778 to 1784 pleuropneumonia, no doubt very 
common in many countries, is specially referred to by Kauset and Orus as in Silesia and 
Istria. Its course during this and subsequent periods was involved in much obscurity, 
owing to the more alarming outbreaks of rinderi^est, Avhich absorbed the attention of scien- 
tific men, and also tended, by the wholesale and rapid destruction of herds, to supersede 
the more insidious pleuropneumonia. Huzard and Vicq d'Azyr studied the malady in 
1791, and report that in the years 1772, 1776, 1780, 1787, 1789, 1791, and 1792 it raged 
among the milch cows of Paris and its neighborhood. Chabert described the malady in 
1793, and recognized its contagious character, cautioning people against placing healthy 
cattle in communication with sick ones. loggia at that time studied the malady in Italy, 
and it prevailed in Baden during the years 1787, 1788, 1792, 1794, and 1798. It is to 
be regretted that little or nothing was known of this disease, which no doubt prevailed in 
Russia during the last century ; and we are left to draw our own inference as to its probable 
prevalence there, from indications of its introduction through Poland to Prussia, but more 
frequently into Austria, Wiirtemberg, Switzerland, Northern Italy and France. 

Records of outbreaks during the present century are more satisfactory. Bojanus 
studied the malady in Lithuania, and Jeuen first saw it in Russia in 1824. Haupt witnessed 
it repeatedly in Siberia, and Bussee observed it in the neighborhood of St. Petersburg in 
1843, 1844, 1845, and 1850. 

The. malady invaded Prussia from 1802 to 1810, and was described by Sick in Pi,udol- 
phi's ObservatioES in Natural History and Medicine, published in Berlin, 1804. Diete- 
rich witnessed it from 1815 to 1820, and • Nogenfeld published in his work on the disease 
official reports of its manifestations in the Dantzig district from 1821 to 1831. Gielen saw 
the lung plague in 1832, at Blandenburg, and later, from 1837 to 1843, in Saxony. Sau- 
berg, whose prize essay I have so often quoted, enters into very minute details concerning 
the outbreaks of pleuropneumonia in the Rhine provinces of Prussia, from 1830 to 1840. 
Some idea of the extent of the losses he had to report on may be derived from the fact 
that in the single district of Diisseldorf ten thousand head of cattle were lost from pleuro- 
pneumonia in the eight years from 1832 to 1840. Gerlach has drawn attention to this 
subject in Prussia with peculiar diligence since 1835, and remarks that he has watched 
personally so many cases, in conjunction with historical researches, that he unhesitatingly 
pronounces in favor of the view that pleuropneumonia is never developed spontaneously. 

The lung plague prevailed severely in Hanover in the years 1807, 1808, 1809, ISIO, 
1812, 1817, 1818. In 1819 Hausmann suggested and performed experiments in the 

• A. Fauti, soina I'epizoozia bovina iu alcuni luoglii dclla Dalinazia. Modena, 177G. Hensinger also quotes memoirs 
of Orus aud Lotti. 
2 



10 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

inoculation of the disease, wliich never resulted in practical good. Outbreaks continued 
to be recorded in Hanover at Short intervals from 1820 to 1843, and the country has 
never been altogether free since. 

The malady appeared in Saxony in 1827, and has often raged there since, as shown 
in the writings of Haubner, and the observations made by Leisering and others. 

In 1862 I made a careful study of the progress of pleuropneumonia toward the British 
Isles through Holland, and it is from these two countries that the New World, Africa, 
and the Australian colonies have been contaminated within the past quarter of a century. 

The disease entered Holland, according to Numann, the director of the veterinary 
school at Utrecht, in 1833, by tlie importation of cattle affected with the disease from 
Prussia, and purchased by a distiller, Vandenbosch, in Gelderland. In 1835 it was 
transmitted from Gelderland to Utrecht, thence into South Holland, and it raged especially 
near the great markets of Rotterdam and Schiedam. The Island of Zeeland then began 
to suffer wherever cattle were injudiciously imported from South Holland, and some 
outbreaks were attributed to infected cattle from South Holland, North Brabant, and 
West Flanders From importations of infected cattle, the lung disease attacked the 
stock on a few farms scattered through the provinces of Drenthe, Groningen, and Overyssel. 
It was as late as 1842 that Friesland was attacked. British ports were thrown open to 
the cattle trade by Sir Robert Peel, and the demands of our markets caused a rush of 
stock through and from the northern provinces of Holland, which infected them in this 
year. The first traces of pleuropneumonia were observed at Nejiga and Wurms. The 
Dutch government ordered the slaughter of all the infected cattle, and Friesland again 
remained free of the disease until 1845. Then the British trade again increased ; cattle 
were passing from Overyssel to Harlingen, and in the month of December, 1845, the 
malady appeared at St. Nicolunsga, the following March at Mirus, and soon after at Enk- 
huysen. Prevention, by slaughtering diseased cattle, was enforced ; the authorities in 
Overyssel were asked to adopt similar measures, that there should be no renewed intro- 
duction of disease from that province. The cattle trade was too active, and no sooner 
was the malady extinguished in one spot than it appeared at others. In the last half of 
the year 1847 the disease broke out in sixteen stables in sixteen different districts. A 
last attempt was made to arrest the malady, and seven hundred and three sick or suspected 
animals were killed and buried. Larger and larger did the number of infected stables 
become as the cattle dealers' movements increased. In 1848 fifty-eight different outbreaks 
occurred. By 1863 five to six thousand out of the fourteen thousand stables in which cattle 
are kept in Friesland had been visited by the disease, and the annual mortality rose from 
5.25 per thousand in 1850 to nearly 40 per thousand. 

It was probably somewhere between 1839 and 1841 that some Dutch cattle wcire 
imported into the county of Cork, Ireland, by gentlemen related to a British consul at the 
J lague This was before the days of free trade in stock, and the animals were introduced 
under some special permit. Customs of this early period have their representatives in 
County Cork at the present day, and my inquiries lead me to believe that the earliest 
of these importations were followed by the manifestations of pleuropneumonia. It spread 
from Cork into Limerick in 1844, and thence to Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford, 
Wicklow, Meath, Galway, and Roscommon. The losses in Ireland have been enormous, 
and indeed much larfrcr than in Euirland and Scotland. The north of Ireland has lieen 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 11 

more free than the south, but in 1844 cattle were imi^orted into the county of Tyrone from 
Glasgow, communicating the disease, which continued till 1852. Londonderry suffered 
about 1849-'50, and here and there in all other counties, not excluding Kerry, the intro- 
duction of the malady by traveling or purchased cattle has occurred. 

While the lung disease was thus lighting up in different parts of Ireland, it was 
committing great ravages in England. All the large towns containing dairy cows suffered. 
Speedily did the disease pass from London to Manchester, and Birmingham to Liverpool, 
Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle. It was in the month of November, 1843, that English 
cattle carried the disease into Scotland at All-Hallow Fair, in Edinburgh. It speedily 
passed to Glasgow, Perth, and Aberdeen. In 1844 it reached Inverness, on cattle taken 
there by sea. Thus the large towns and their vicinities were first affected, but no great 
interval elapsed before farms were contaminated. The counties of Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 
Derbyshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Northumberland were all affected by 1844 and 
1845. It was later that the disease entered the breeding districts of Gloucestershire, 
Herefordshire, and Devon. Cheshire lost early and much. In Scotland it was 1846 or 
1847 before many districts in such counties as Lanarkshire and Ayrshire had the disease. 
It committed great ravages in Wigtown, Renfrew, Fife, Perth, Kincardine, and Aberdeen 
shires. It has been rarely, and on a few farms, in such counties as Argyle, Banff, Inver- 
ness, and Caithness. 

The losses by pleuropneumonia have amounted during the past seven-and-twenty 
years to as high as two million pounds sterling per annum in the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland. The best cattle have been destroyed, inasmuch as the breed- 
ing cows and young stocks in breeding districts beyond the range of infection never attain 
the value of the fine milch cows and fattened steers which exist in milk-producing and 
fattening districts. I prepared a table of losses in 88 dairies in the city of Edinburgh, 
from the 1st of July, 1861, to the 1st of July, 1862, and out of 1,839 cows, 791 were 
sold diseased to butchers, and 284 were sold as food for pigs. The total value of the 
1,075 diseased animals when first bought, at the very moderate average of £13 10s. each, 
is £14,512 10s. There was realized by their sale, calculating the value of the 791 sold 
to butchers at an average of £5 each, and the 284 sold for pig-feeding at 10 shillings each, 
the sum of £4,097. The net annual loss by diseased cows in Edinburgh alone was, there- 
fore, £10,415 10s. Similar losses have occurred in all other large cities, such as Dublin, 
London, Liverpool, Newcastle, &c. 

From England and Holland the disease has been propagated far and wide. In 1847 
English cattle communicated pleuropneumonia to Sweden, and in 1848, it appears, from 
Sweden to Denmark. Mr. R. Fenger, a Danish veterinarian, furnished me, in 1862, with 
the following information: "As to the appearance of this disease in the Kingdom of Den- 
mark, it is an established fact that it has taken place only three times upon three different 
farms where cattle had been introduced from abroad. No other cattle were affected than 
those in the three herds alluded to, and for three years no disease has appeared in Den- 
mark. As to the spontaneous origin of pleuropneumonia, I wish to draw your attention 
to the fact that it is never seen in the town of Copenhagen, notwithstanding that in this 
place there are large dairies where the cows are fed on draff from distilleries, and are kept 
in a state contrary to any which sanitary rules might suggest. In the dukedom of Schles- 
wig the disease has been imported several times, and last from England, and occasionally 



12 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICDLTURE:. 

lias spread rather widely. This autunin the cattle of thirty diti'erent places in Schleswig 
have been kept in a kind of quarantine." 

In 1858 an agricultural society in Oldenburg purchased some Ayrshires to distribute 
among its members for breeding purposes. Wherever these' animals went they communi- 
cated disease. Oldenburg has kept very free from pleuropneumonia from the activity with 
which the infected animals are destroyed at the outbreak of disease. The same remark 
applies to Mecklcnburg-Schwerin and Schleswig-Holstein. With regard to the latter jirov- 
ince, it transpires that in 1859 some Ayrshire cattle imported in the vicinity of Tonderu 
communicated pleuropneumonia. 

In the month of August, 1860, an agent of the Norwegian government purchased a 
number of Ayrshire cattle ; they were taken to the Royal Agricultural College at Aas, and 
in the commencement of November pleuropneumonia broke out among them. Dr. Oluf 
Thesen has informed me that he limited the disease to the college by destroying the native 
cattle with which the Ayrshire stock had come in contact, and keeping the Ayrshire ani- 
mals to themselves. Norway had been exempt from this cattle plague, and owing to Pro- 
fessor Thesen's activity it now enjoys the same immunity. 

In the month of September, 1858, Mr. Boodle, farmer, near Melbourne, imported a 
cow from England; she landed in good condition and gave milk. She died of pleuro- 
pneumonia six weeks after her arrival. Two other head of cattle belonging to Mr. Boodle 
died in December, and another in January. The disease continued to spread, and the 
losses have been enormous and almost incessant in Victoria and even in New South Wales. 

HISTORY OF THE LUN(} PLAGUE IN AMERICA. 

The first notice of the lung plague in the United States dates back to 1843, when a 
German cow, imported direct from Europe, and taken from shipboard into a Brooklyn 
cattle *hed, communicated the disease, which, it is said and believed, has prevailed more or 
less in Kings County, Long Island, ever since. 

In 1847 Mr. Thomas Richardson, of New Jersey, imported some English stock. Signs 
of disease were noticed soon, and the whole of Mr. Richardson's stock, valued at $10,000, 
were slaughtered by him to prevent an extension of the plague. 

In 1850 a fresh supply of the lung-plague poison reached Brooklyn from England in 
the system of an imported cow. 

Mr. W. W. Chenery, of Belmont, Massachusetts, has related the history of the intro- 
duction of lung plague from Holland into Massachusetts in 1859. Four cows were pur- 
chased for him at Purmerend and Beemster, shipped at Rotterdam early in April on board 
the bark J. C. Humphreys, which arrived in America on the 23d of May, 1859. Two of 
the cows were driven to Belmont; the other two had to be transported on wagons, owing 
to their "extremely bad condition," one of them "not having been on her feet during the 
twenty days preceding her arrival." On the 31st of May, it being deemed impossible 
that this cow could recover, she was slaughtered, and on the 2d of June following the 
second cow died. The third cow sickened on the 20th of June, and died in ten days.- The 
fourth continued in a thriving condition. A Dutch cow, imported in 1852, was the next 
one observed ill, early in the month of August following, and she succumbed on the 20th. 
" Several other animals were taken sick in rapid succession, and then it was that the idea 
was first advanced that the disease was identical with that known in Europe as epizootic 



THE LUNG TLAGUE. 13 

pleuropneumonia." Mr. Ckenery then did all in his power to prevent the spread of dis- 
ease from his farm. The last case at the Highland farm, Belmont, occurred on the Sth of 
January, 1860. 

In June, 1859, Curtis Stoddard, of ISTorth Brookfield, bought three young cattle, one bull 
and two heifers, from Mr. Chenery. One calf showed signs of sickness on the way home. 
Leonard Stoddard, father of Curtis, thinking he could better treat the sick calf, took it to his 
own barn, where he had forty-eight head, exclusive of calves, and with which the calf mingled. 
One animal after another was attacked, till the 1 2th of April, when thirteen head had died, 
and most of the remainder were sick. The disease continued to spread from farm to farm 
as rapidly as circumstances favored the admixture of stock. The period of incubation in 
well-defined cases varied from nineteen to thirty-six days, and averaged twenty-six and 
two-thirds days. 

The people of Massachusetts, a little slow at first, overcame the delays incident to 
legislation, established a commission for the purpose of exterminating the disease, and an 
appropriation of $10,000 was placed under the control of the commissioners on the 4th of 
April, 1860. The disease was gaining ground rapidly, and a bill to extirpate the disease 
passed its several stages and was approved on the same day. Commissioners were ap- 
pointed ; herds were examined by surgeons, and, if infected, slaughtered ; the animals pro- 
nounced healthy at the time of inspection were paid for ; all the money appropriated was 
spent, and such was the feeling then in Massachusetts that private gentlemen made themselves 
responsible for a second amount of nearly $20,000. An extra session of the legislature was 
called for the 13th of May. Fresh powers were sought and obtained, additional commission- 
ers were appointed, and the disease was apparently exterminated. It reappeared in 1861 , a 
new board of commissioners was appointed, and further successful efforts were made to 
prevent the disease. On the 24th of December, 1863, Mr. Charles L. Flint, in a letter to Gov- 
ernor Andrew, asserted that pleuropneumonia still existed in twelve or fifteen towns of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Mr. E. T. Thayer, to whom the people of llassa- 
chusetts owe much for his skill and industry as the veterinary commissioner, and Mr. 
Charles P. Preston, wrote their final report to the senate and house of representatives of 
Massachusetts on the 30th of December, 1867. In that report, in tendering their resig- 
nations to the governor, they congratulate the people on the success which had been in- 
sured by efficient co-operation " in eradicating one of the worst forms of contagious disease 
which has been found among cattle." 

From numerous inquiries there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the lung 
disease has continued, ever since its first introduction, to attack some of the numerous 
dairies on Long Island. One of the best informed dairymen in Brooklyn informed me 
that, three months after starting in business, sixteen years ago, he lost eleven out of twelve 
cows he had purchased in Newark, New Jersey. He bought more and began to inoculate 
with excellent results. Other people were losing, and he established himself on Jamaica 
Pond to be clear of every one. When he stopped inoculating the disease reappeared. Mr. 
Benjamin Babbit, of Lafayette avenue, was the first to inoculate after the introduction of this 
practice in Europe, and many dairymen adopted it. The board of health opposed the 
practice, as many of the cows lost portions of the tail, and reports were made of blood and 
matter finding their way into the milk-pail. The disease has never ceased, and I have 
visited many dairies, in all of which, at one time or another, and in most of which during 



14 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

the present year, the disease has prevailed. In live dairies I examined, within one hun- 
dred yards of each other, I found one or two sick cows in each. The Hartford Insurance 
Company, which has recently suspended operations, lost heavily on the insurance of cows 
from the prevalence of this disease, and that company objected also to the practice of 
inoculation. 

From Mr. Bedell's statement there is no doubt of the existence of the contagious 
pleuropneumonia in New Jersey when he first bouglit his cattle. Mr. Robert Jennings, 
veterinary surgeon, had his attention drawn to the disease on its appearance in Camden 
and Gloucester Counties, New Jersey, in the year 18o9. In 1860 it crossed the Delaware 
River into Philadelphia, spreading very rapidly in all din-ctions, particularly in the southern 
section of the county known as " The Neck" — many of the dairymen losing one-third to 
one-half of their herds. The sale of sick cattle continued, as it always does, unless pre- 
vented by rigid laws. In 1861 the malady appeared in Delaware, and in Burlington 
County, New Jersey, and the disease could be distinctly traced to the Philadelphia market. 

The records of outbreaks are by no means satisfactory, but a gentleman well known 
in Marylaml. Mr. ^lartin Goldsborough, informs me that the malady has been very 
destructive on many farms of that State for the past three years. Individuals have lost 
their entire herds, in some cases numbering twenty-four, thirty, and as high as forty-seven 
head. Last year an effort was made to direct the attention of the legislature of Maryland 
to the subject, with a view to the adoption of successful measures, but without effect. 
Mr. Goldsborough's statement is to the effect that the disease in Maryland is due to the 
])urchase of cattle in the Philadelphia market. 

There is no doubt of the great prevalence of the malady for some years in Pennsyl- 
vania. I have seen it on two farms in Delaware County, and it has been on several others 
recently. Bucks County has suffered much for two years. A correspondent informs me 
that in March, 1867, a dro\-e of cows was taken into that county, and one of them was 
observed to be sick. These animals were distributed among the farmers, and soon the 
plague appeared in all directions. An effort was made then to secure the aid of the State 
legislature, without effect, and to this day the disease is in Bucks County. The last case 
I have to report is at Newtown, P)ucks County, wlirrc the disease Avas introduced by cows 
bought in the Philadelphia market. 

That the malady has attained sudi propurtions as to demand constant attention, apart 
from the fact that but one case on the whole continent is a source of incalculable danger, 
is proved by a circular recently issued l)y gentlemen in Westchester, Pennsylvania, and 
which is of suflicient impdrtancc to lie reproduci^d here: 

riiiinijiiiiiiiiiiinid. — Tlie j{rciit iiicicasi' in tlu' disriisu know ii ;is i>IuiiioiiiRniiiioiiia iniicnig tattlo witliiu a ivw years 
paKt, its hi^ilily ((iiitaKioiis cliaiiiitcr, and the ackiiowlodgeil iualiilit.v of the most skillt'iil \fteiinaiy .surgeons to con- 
trol or in the least mitigate its .severity in certain stages of the disease, call for immediate and earnest attention from 
the community. It is a well-known fact that the cupidity of many induces them as soon as the disease develoiis itself 
on their premises to hurry oft their stock (diseased as well as those not diseased) to the m-arest drove-yard, to be there 
.sold for whatever they will bring; to be either sold as food or driven off to new sections, and tliere to infect and poison 
other animals with which they may come in contact. 

With the view of arresting this increasing and wide-spreading evil, tlie un<lersigned, a committee of the " Jliitual 
Live Stock Iiisurance Coniiiany of C'hoj<ter County," an institution established purely for mutual assistance and pro- 
tection, respectfully invite your co-ojicration in procuring such action at the hands of our next legislature, bv the 
pxssage of a law authorizing the a])pointment of a snifabh' number of ([inilifu'd and conscientious inspectors through- 
out the Slate, whose duty it shall be to examine thoroughly all animals, especially those offered for sale, wherever 
they may be, and to sulijcct those offering such disea.sed aniuuils to Imth fine and Imprisoumcut, and to take such other 
meii-surcs .-is may be deemed necessary to effect the entire extirpation of the disease from our midst. 



THE LUNG TLAGUE. . 15 

I can corroborate the statements made as to the sale of cattle that arc infected. Not 
only has this occurred often where the disease lias been most rife for years past, as on 
Long Island, but recently, in making inquiries in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, I 
learned of three cows which had been sold " healthy" (?) out of an infected herd. Such a 
practice explains the progress of the disease even further south than Maryland. 

I have been informed that the malady has traveled as far west as Kentucky and 
Ohio, but of this I have not been able, in the brief time since I commenced the inquiry, 
to obtain satisfactory evidence. I have taken some pains to ascertain if the disease had 
reappeared in Massachusetts, and personal inquiries in various parts of the State show 
that it is quite free from the disease, thanks to the energy of its people and the enlightened 
action of its legislature. 

The conclusions that are warranted by the facts I have gleaned are as follows : 

First. That the lung plague in cattle exists on Long Island, where it has prevailed 
for many years ; that it is not uncommon in New Jersey ; has at various times appeared 
in New York State ; continues to be very prevalent in several counties of Pennsylvania, 
especially in Delaware and Bucks ; has injured the farmers of Maryland, the dairymen 
around Washington, D. C, and has penetrated into Virginia. 

Second. That the disease travels wherever sick cattle are introduced, and that the 
great cattle-rearing States of the West, which may not at present be entirely free from the 
disease, have been protected by the fact that they sell rather than buy and import horned 
stock. 

Third. Tliere are no proper restrictions on the sale of infected stock, and in another 
yeax or two, unless some definite and immediate action should be taken, the disease is 
likely to find its way into so many parts of the country tliat its eradication will be almost 
impossible. 

Of all the cattle diseases pleuropneumonia is in the long run the most destructive, 
because the most insidious and the least likely to rouse a people to united action for its 
effectual suppression. To ignore its presence is, however, to insure that the cattle mortal- 
ity of America, like that of England, will be at least doubled within a few years. Rational 
means, energetic action, and earnest co-operation between the different States and the cen- 
tral government, may, with a moderate expenditure. now, save many millions annually in 
the not distant future. 

For three years past the, city of Washington, and, indeed, the whole District of Colum- 
bia, with adjoining parts of Maryland and Virginia, have been seriously affected with the 
lung plague. It is gleaned from the contractors who clean the city of the carcasses of dead 
animals, that it is not uncommon to have several dead cows in a day from the Washing- 
ton dairies ; tliat to have a dozen a week has not been unusual, during certain seasons, and 
that the supply is constant. Unfortunately, as in other cities of America and Europe, 
the prevalence of pleuropneumonia results in a wholesale traffic in such animals. Sick 
cows are sold to butchers, and if in good condition command thirty to sixty dollars ; others 
that are too lean are taken, in the early stage, mixed with other stock, and sent by railroad 
to Baltimore, to be sold as stock cows to farmers. In fact, the active and unremittent 
traffic in sick cattle insures that Washington, the neighborhood of Alexandria, in Virginia, 
and Baltimore, will continue to be great breeding centers of pleuropneumonia. Some idea 
of the heavy losses in the Washington district may be gleaned from a table annexed, 
prepared by a Washington dairyman. (See Appendix at close of this report.) 



16 . DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE, 



SIGNS OR SYMPTOMS DURING LIFE. 



It is necessary to draw special attention to the fact that in States or on farms where 
the hmg plague has never before existed it is the more readily recognized, in the earlier 
stages, as in case of other epizootics, the more complete the history. The fact that cattle 
have been recently purchased, or that drift cattle have crossed the fai'm or prairie, the. 
knowledge of the existence of such a disease in adjoining States or farms, or of sick cattle 
being sold by auctions or in the markets, are all most important .elements in guiding to a 
correct conclusion as to the nature of the disease. 

Very frequently an animal is bought, placed among others, dies, and the remaining 
cattle cough, get out of condition, and some soon sicken. The purchased animal may show 
no signs of illness, however ; it may be suffering from a latent form of the disease, or it 
may be in the convalescent stage, and gaining flesh daily. 

A dairyman, especially in a large town, may have had pleuropneumonia among his 
cattle, which had subsided, and his stock, composed of animals that had withstood the dis- 
ease, might be regarded as healthy. But some still discharge a degree of poison, and infect 
the atmosphere, and a newly bought animal dates the j^eriod of the incubation of the mal- 
ady from the moment it entered the stable. 

The incubation of the disease may be said to vary from eight or nine days to three or 
four months. In the inoculated malady the exudation commences sometimes as early as 
the fifth day, more commonly about the ninth or twelfth, and it may be as late as thirty 
or forty days. In the disease communicated by cohabitation, a cough, to which very 
special attention was drawn by the experiments of the French commission on contagion, 
supervenes about the ninth day and later. It is usually noticed by cow-feeders, who buy 
cows which have just calved, that they drop with the disea^Je about the time they should 
manifest oestrum, that is to say, six weeks after their admission. 

There are false and true jieriods of incubation of the lung plague. And this has been 
overlooked too much in descriptions of the disease. The actual incubation is from the 
period of contamination, by contact or inoculation, to the moment that a special morbid 
change commences. Our means of observation have not been exact enough, and it is very 
desirable that thermometric observations should be made on experimental animals, and 
these, with the ordinary phenomena derived by auscultation, &c., will assure us of the 
actual length of the stage of the lung disease which is unattended by any appreciable sign. 
We shall then know the true period of incubation. The false periods of incubation are 
those derived by persons from observing an animal to sicken, say four months after pur- 
chase, and drawing the conclusion that this period repi-esents the incubation stage. As a 
rule in such cases, two or three latent instances of the disease have preceded the obvious 
one. Then, again, the period of incubation is not usually stated correctly by farmers, as 
they overlook the first signs of the disease, whicli occur several days before cessation of 
appetite, secretion of milk, &c. 

Invasion of the lung plague is characterized by local phenomena which most frequently 
show themselves by the cough already referred to. With one of Casella's self-registering 
thermometers it will be found that in an infected herd some animal or animals in apparent 
health, which no one suspects to be diseased, will manifest a temperature of 104° or 105° 
Fahrenheit. I have never seen a case in which, when the temperature was thus elevated, 



THE LUNG I'LAGUK. 



17 



I could not detect friction sounds, loud respiratory murmurs, especially at the lower part 
of the trachea and involving one lung. It is not a little remarkable to notice the want of 
faith of some persons who watch the separation of such cattle, with great doubt as to the 
correctness of the observation. In rinderpest the elevation of temperature occurs before 
all other signs, and to a less marked extent this is the same with sj^lenic fever ; but in 
pleuropneumonia there is reason to believe that acute observation would reveal first the 
local change and then the fever. 

In order to show the value of the thermometer in tliis. disease, I subjoin the observa- 
tions made by me on two herds of cows suffering from it, and which I inoculated on the 
26th of February, 1869, at Alexandria : 



.MR. UIEMULLER S COWS 



1 101. 4 



jri!. 1!EIP .S COWi- 



2 102 

3 102 

4 101 

5 101.6 

6 102.3 

7 102 

8 101. 8 

9 104.4 

10 102.6 



11 101 

12 102 

13 101.6 

14 105.6 

15 103. 6 

16 '. 101.3 

17 101 

18 101.3 

19 104.4 

20 102.2 

21 101 



101. 
102. 
101. 
101 
102. 
102 
101. 
102 
102. 
105. 
101. 
101. 
103 
100. 
101. 
102. 
101. 
102. 
101 



Of Reid's cows, Nos. 11 and 14 were sick, and of Biemiiller's, Nos. 9, 14, 15, and 
19. Some doubt exists as to No. 19; I had not opportunity of seeing her again. Mr. 
Reid thinks she might have been at heat, but from the indications, however slight, asso- 
ciated with the elevation of temperature, I beljeve it was one of the numerous latent cases 
which the thermometer alone reveals to us. Nos. 14 and 15 were in the earliest stages of the 
malady, and both grew worse, suffered for three weeks, and then recovered. 

OBVIOUS PREMONITORY SIGNS. 

The obvious premonitory signs are shivering fits, as in ordinary fever, but their tran- 
sient and mild character lead to their often being passed unnoticed. The animal's coat 
looks dull, staring, and the skin is often rigid. An occasional cough of a dry and harsh 
character is noticed, and, when inspecting a herd in a field, if the cattle are made to move 
briskly, several will be found to cough. For some days the cattle appear to thrive well, 
and milch cows yield a copious amount of milk. It has been remarked that they appear 
full — indeed fuller in the early morning than other animals which, like them, had not fed 
since the previous evening. The excrement is dry, and urine somewhat scanty. 

An expert dairymaid, in the habit of milking cows where the disease prevails, is apt 
3 



18 DEPAETMEKT OF AGRICULTURE. 

to notice, as the malady declares itself, that there is some stiffness, and the milk is not so 
freely drawn as usual. The quantity of this secretion then diminishes. 

The progress of the malady is then characterized by loss of appetite, altered gait, 
segregation of the sick from the healthy in the field, the sick standing with their elbows 
turned outward, their feet drawn forward, neck and head extended, and nostrils somewhat 
convulsively expanded at each inspiration. There is quickness of breathing, especially if 
the animal is even slightly disturbed, and on the slightest movement there is an audible 
grunt. The expression of countenance indicates uneasiness or absolute pain, and the eyes 
are prominent and fixed. The pulse rises to seventy, eighty, and even one hundred beats 
per minute. In hot cow-sheds the pulse is more frequent than in the open field in healthy 
cattle, and a corresponding increase is seen in this disease under similar circumstances. 
The respirations rise to thirty-five and forty per minute, are labored, audible, and each 
expiration is often associated with a short characteristic grunt. This grunt is especially 
marked if the sides of the chest or the spine are pressed; and many years ago Lecoq 
showed that graziers regarded this as a decisive symptom of the malady. A somewhat 
watery discharge from the nose, increased in the act of coughing, is noticed early in the 
disease, and driving sick cattle in the earliest stage produces much thirst, and there is a 
ropy saliva discharged from the mouth. The muzzle is hot and dry. 

Cattle suffering from this disease are readily identified, as it advances, by persons 
who have seen a few cases. They stand motionless, with protruding head, arched back, 
extended fore limbs, with elbows turned as far out as they can be held, and the hind 
limbs drawn under them, with knuckling at the near hind or both hind fetlocks. When 
lying, especially in the latter stages of the disease, they rest on their brisket or lie on the 
affected side, leaving the ribs on the healthy side of the chest as much freedom of motion 
as possible. 

As the disease advances the pulse gets more frequent and feeble, and the heart's 
beats, which are at first subdued, become marked and palpitating, as in cases of poverty 
or anaemia. The membranes of the eyes, mouth, and vagina are usually pallid, though 
the membrane of the nose is often red. The tongue is foul, covered with fur, and the 
exhaled breath has a nauseous and even fetid odor. 

Listlessness, grunting, grinding of teeth, diminished secretions, weakness, and ema- 
ciation, increase with the progress of the malady. When the animals become weak they 
lie more. They sometimes show symptoms of jaundice, have a tendency to heave, or tym- 
panitis from gases accumulating in the paunch, and their gait is so staggering that they 
appear to suffer from jxartial paralysis of the hind quarters. As all these aggravated 
symptoms_ develop themselves the pulse becomes Aveak, and often rises to one hundred and 
twenty per minute; the breathing is more frequent and labored; the animal gasps for 
breath. The spasmodic action of the nostrils is very marked, the grunt very audible, and 
there js a peculiar puckering of the angles of the mouth. The temperature, which is ele- 
vated during the acute stage of the disease, is irregularly up and down, according to the 
complications of the disease, and there is great tendency to coldness of the horns and 
extremities. Abortion is not an uncommon accident. The constipation, which is a very 
common symptom of the lung disease, is apt to be followed by diarrhea in the later stages, 
and this is also associated with a considerable discharge of clear-colored urine. 

Auscultation and percussion are valuable aids in the diagnosis of lung plague. Most 



THE LUNG TLAGUE. 19 

persons can, with a little care, distinguish the sick from healthy cattle by listening to the 
sides of the chest. It does not require a skillful expert to recognize that the ribs are 
motionless and flattened over the consolidated lung, that there is an absence of resonance 
on striking the ribs over the affected region, and that the ear distinguishes a very distinct 
respiratory murmur wherever the lung is pervious, and an absence of this sound where 
the lung is transformed into a solid mass. 

At an early stage of pleuropneumonia there is a harsh sound, roar, or rhonchus, pro- 
duced by the passage of air through the windpipe and its subdivisions. This varies in 
intensity in different cases, as some animals have more exudation on the mucous surface 
of the air passage than others, and the leathery-looking shreds of lymph adhering to the 
inflamed membrane vibrate as the air rushes past them, giving rise to the harsh sound 
which may sometimes be heard by persons standing by a sick animal. In many cases 
one lung alone is affected, and then the respiratory murmur is more distinct than in health 
wherever the lung tissue is pervious, whereas there is a total absence of sound over the 
consolidated organ. Occasionally an air passage remains open through a mass of hard- 
ened lung, and the air rushing through this rigid bronchial tube makes a very decided 
whistling noise. 

In the earliest stages of pleuropneumonia the deposit of lymph on the serous cover- 
ing of the ribs and lungs produces a leathery-friction sound, and as liquid accumulates in 
one or both cavities of the chest the respiratory murmur is lost towards the lower part of 
the affected side or sides, and it is alone distinct over the upper portions of pervious lung 
tiss'ue. 

A careful examination of the chest reveals, day by day, the progress of the disease. 
When one lung is affected an animal is much more likely to recover than when both are 
diseased. Portions of the diseased lung tissue are apt to die, and, becoming detached or 
softened, produce cavities in the lungs, which are indicated by a cavernous rale or sound 
somewhat similar to that produced by blowing air in the hollow of the hands when closed 
against each other. 

By careful auscultation the cases that tend to convalescence may be distinguished by 
'less marked roughness in the inspirations, and a gradual though slow return of the respira- 
tory murmur, witli increased mobility of the ribs and easier movement of the flanks, 

TEEMINATION. 

Cases of lung diseases in cattle end in partial or complete restoration to health, or 
death by prostration, suffocation, purulent fever, or hectic. 

As a rule, when a herd of cattle has suffered from the contagious pleuropneumonia, 
the surviving animals, whenever slaughtered, show old adhesions, partial collapse of the 
lung tissue, atrophy or wasting of the lung, thickness of the heart's covering or pericar- 
dium, and sometimes chronic abscess. Complete recovery without leaving the slightest 
traces of pre-existing lesion occurs. It has been noticed that cattle that have once had 
pleuropneumonia fatten more readily than others. 

Death supervenes during the acute attacks of the disease from shock, prostration, or 
gradual suffocation. When animals linger on for some time in the bloodless state peculiar 
to this disease, and which is mainly due to the great drain on the system by the immense 



20 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE, 

discliarfc which occurs iu tlie substance of the lung and cavities of the chest, a permanent 
impairment of the functions of nutrition or assimilation occurs, and, although the appetite 
may be partially restored, emaciation advances, and the animal sinks. A terrible diarrhu;a 
or dysentery usually accompanies this form of disease. 

In other cases abscesses form in and around the lungs and in other parts of the 
body, and the animals die of purulent infection. Occasionally a cavity formed by the 
breaking up of diseased lung tissue communicates with the pleural sack or cavity of the 
chest, and a condition known to pathologists as empyema results, to the certain destruc- 
tion of the animal. 

• • DUEATION OF THE DISEASE. 

Affected animals usually pass through an incubative stage varying from twenty to 
eighty davs, and usually averaging from twenty-five to forty days. The acute stage of the 
disorder varies from seven to twenty-one days. Convalescence extends over a period of 
one, two, or even three months, during the greater part of which the convalescent animal 
is often capable of infecting healthy cattle. 

The mortality varies from one to ninety per cent, of the affected animals. When a 
first case is isolated early, all the remaining animals may continue to enjoy health. As a 
rule, in mild outbreaks, the mortality attains twenty-five per cent., and in severe cases 
sixty, seventy, eighty, or even one hundred per cent. 

In England the lung disease has doubled the usual cattle, mortality of the country, 
and during many years fifty per cent, of the cattle that have died of disease have died 
of the contagious lung disease. 

LATENT FORM. ' 

It is necessary that I should draw special attention to the large number of cases which 
run an insidious course and pass unobserved. These are the most dangerous, as less care 
is paid to their isolation. 

APPEARANCES AFTER DEATH. 

Animals that are slaughtered, or are permitted to die in advanced stages of the lung 
plague, present the following characteristics : 

The internal changes are confined almost entirely to the chest. On opening this, by 
splitting the brisket, as the animal lies on its back, layers of yellowish, friable, false mem- 
brane, of varying tenacity, stretch across and around the sack (pericardium) containing the 
heart. These adhesions exist on one or both sides of the chest, but are sometimes alto- 
gether absent. They are found bathed in a yellowish, grumous fluid or serum, highly 
charged with albumen and shreds of solid deposit. Portions of one or both lungs are found 
more or less firmly adhering to the membrane (pleura) covering the ribs and diaphragm, 
and in passing the hands, especially round the large posterior lobes of either lung, it is 
difficult, in advanced stages of tlie disorder, to detach Ihe diseased portions of the organ 
from the ribs. 

The false membranes, dispose<l in layers which may be stripped oft' the pulmonary 
surface, are found adhering more or less closely to it, and the membrane (pleura) covering 



THE LUNG TLAGUE. 21 

the lung, wliich is usually smooth and glistening, is rough, of mottled color, and with more 
or less marked papillary or warty-looking eminences. These are the vascular ofishoots of the 
membrane feeding the deposit around, and in time the process of growth and formation of vas- 
cular or blood-carrying tissue may lead to as solid a connection between the lung and the 
sides of the chest as between healthy tissues. Such complete development is seen only in 
very chronic cases, or animals that have recovered from the disease. 

The fluid around one or both lungs varies in amount from a few ounces to several 
gallons. At times it is tolerably clear when warm, and gelatinizes on cooling. At others 
it is difficult to separate it from the shreds of lymph and false membranes in the meshes of 
which it is held. Pus cells frequently abound in it, and it assumes in a few cases the 
character of pus. It is especially purulent when abscesses have formed in the gangrenous 
lung tissue, and an opening has led to communication between the lung tissue and the 
pleural sack. Under these circumstances, the fetor noticed on opening thechest is intolerable- 

On removing the lungs, great variations in extent, but uniformity in essential appear- 
ances, of disease exist. 

In recent and-mild cases, one lung is found affected. Its surface may be smooth from 
the absence of deposit around it. Parts of the organ are collapsed, as in health, and the 
usual normal pink color is noticed. The affected part is swollen, hard, and mottled. On 
cutting into this, the older diseased portions present a very peculiar marbled or tessellated 
character. The substance of the lobules is solid and of a dark red color, and the tissue be- 
tween the lobules is of a yellowish red, more or less spotted with red points, but sometimes 
of almost pure yellowish white color. 

The more recent deposits are distinguishe'd mainly by a lighter red color of the thick- 
ened lobules, and there are gradations from this condition to that in which the lobules are 
but slightly infiltrated with semi-liquid serum, and air still passes more or less into their 
air vesicles. 

As the disease advances, the extent of solidified and. darkened lung increases, and 
portions of the lung tissue lose more or less the marbled appearance, from the blood-stain- 
ing of the interstitial deposit. The consolidation of structures advances so that the blood 
'vessels are obstructed, the diseased lung loses all means of nourishment, and the older, 
darker, and more sijlid portions beceme detached, so that they remain as foreign bodies 
imbedded in cavities in the diseased tissue. The admissions of air through the air passages 
into these cavities by dissolution- of the lung tissue, lead to the cavernous sounds which 
the ear can detect in the living animal, and the broken-up tissue decomposes and induces 
great fetor of the breath. 

One lung may have several points diseased ; each lobe may be affected and little or 
no communication between the several parts implicated. The great tenacity of a yellow- 
ish white deposit around a marked marbled center of disease has been said to indicate a 
certain tendency to limitation by the formation of a capsule, and several encapsulated cen- 
ters may be found. 

On taking a warm diseased lung, severing the still healthy portions, making incisions 
into the parts solidified, and suspending them so that they may drain, a large amount of 
yellowish serum of a translucent character, almost wholly free or more or less tinged with 
blood, is obtained to the extent of pounds in weight. The amount varies with weight of 
diseased lung drained. The quantity of this and of the solidified deposit in a diseased lung 



22 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

is so lai-n-e, that from a normal weight of four or five ])oun(ls, a king attains to ten, twenty, 
fortv, and I liave seen one as high as fifty-four pounds in weight. 

AIR PASSAGES. 

The condition of the air passages varies from one of perfect freedom in the healthy 
portions of the lung to a state in which the mucous surface is coated with false membrane 
or solid exudations of lymph in the diseased parts. By suitable means it is not difficult to 
isolate the solid white lymph clogging the terminal broncbial tubes and air vesicles in the 
consolidated tissues, but at a distance from these parts it is only in some cases tbat a kind of 
croupy complication exists. I have seen an animal gasping for breath, with its mouth 
open, nostrils widely expanded, eyes prominent, and visible mucous membranes of a bluish 
red color : on opening the air passages of this cow after death, they were found throughout 
their whole extent nearly filled with a deposit similar to that usually found on the surface 
of the diseased lung,. 

There is little necessity for prolonging this description of cadaveric manifestations. 
The heart's sack is sometimes thickened by deposits around it. Not unfrequently it con- 
tains an excess of serum. The heart itself is contracted and pale, containing a little dark 
blood. The organs of digestion at different stages manifest a state of dryness. The third 
stomach, which is so constantly packed with dry food in febrile diseases, is in the same 
condition in pleuropneumonia. I have known the mucous layers spotted with irregular 
or circular congestions or blood extravasations, and the membrane softening in these parts 
has become perforated. In advanced cases there is more or less diffuse redness, and even 
blood extravasations in the large intestine, with fluid, fetid, and sometimes slightly blood- 
stained, excrement, such as is discharged during life. 

The ansemia — or bloodless condition of other tissues — the dark, dry look of the meat 
dressed by the butcher, the yellow color of the fat in some cases, and the small quantity 
of fat left in animals that have succumbed under a chronic attack, are all general signs of 
greater or less value when taken in conjunction with the changes occurring in the chest. 

THE CAUSES OF THE LUNG PL.VGUE. 

The facts which have been adduced in the foregoing pages would seem sufficient to 
set at rest discussions as to the causes hitherto alleged as giving rise to the spontaneous 
development of contagious pleuropneumonia. Nevertheless we have seen that wlierever 
the malady appears for the first time the relation of its undoubted cause and effect is usu- 
ally overlooked. Many circumstances tend to obscure tlie observations even of experts, 
and it is more particularly in large cities, where the disease is most common and observers 
more numerous, that conditions mislead and have misled. With a view therefore to impede 
the renewal of false theories which have up to the present day insured the steady repro- 
duction and propagation of this liovine pest, it may be well to enter into details* under 
three heads : 

1st. The alleged original causes of tlie lung jilague. 

2d. Contagion and infection. 

3d. Conditions favoring or insuring communication of the disease by actual contact 
or approach. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 23 



THE ALLEGED ORIGINAL CAUSES OF THE LUKG PLAGUE. 

Mail at all times and in virtue of a strong instinct theorizes on the why and the where- 
fore of everything. Valentini, in his records of the lung disease, overlooking altogether 
many points which, with the knowledge of the present day, enable us to interpret correctly 
tlie phenomena he observed, ascribed the lung plague to atmospheric agencies and unsea- 
sonable weather. Haller, a shrewd observer and great philosopher, adopted an inductive 
system of research, and, arguing from his own sphere of observation, declared, in words 
which deserve to be written in gold, that so far as his district was concerned the disease 
appeared always to be imported. He did not hide the truth under a load of wild and fan- 
ciful theories in attempting to explain more than he saw and could judge of personally. 

Since the establishment of veterinary colleges in France two theories have been and 
to a certain extent continue to be advocated. Chabert regarded the bovine pleuropneu- 
monia so common in the dairies of Paris as contagious, whereas Huzard held the contrary 
opinion. The field of discussion widened, and it came to be very widely admitted that 
acute affections of the_chest were contagious, and the chronic forms incapable of commu- 
nication from the sick to the healthy. Not only was this believed of pulmonary complaints 
among cattle, it was also accepted with reference to glanders in the horse. 

Delafond, though an able advocate of the contagious character of pleuropneumonia 
in 1844, had previously entertained grave doubts on the question. Even in his classical 
work on the disease, while advancing a large mass of invaluable information demonstrating 
how in truth the malady extends, his usual desire to round off and complete his works 
led him to theorize and err as to the origin of what he calls "spontaneous pleuropneumo- 
nia" in cattle. This expression is not applied by him to an ordinary attack of inflam- 
mation of the lungs, which no one ever ascribes to contagion, but to the lung plague. 
The local or determining causes of the spontaneous form of this disease he summarizes as 
follows : 

A. Heat and impure atmosphere of stables in which cattle live for five or six months 
of the year, especially when this heat and impurity are combined with a very nutritive 
aliment that produces much blood. 

B. Abundant niilk secretions, required from cows in certain localities, either for the 
sale of milk or of butter and cheese. 

C. Chills of the skin and respiration by cold, humid, misty air on pastures, either 
during spring or autumn; the introduction of cold air in the lungs in winter on taking 
animals from the stables to be watered. 

D. The glacial waters which cattle are compelled to drink in winter, and the unhealthy 
waters of marshes which they have to take in summer. 

E. The hard work to wdiioh work cattle are subjected in summer in clearing for- 
ests, &c. 

Fr Lastly, hereditary predisposition. 

All this classified blundering might be disposed of in one sentence, by asserting the 
truth, that the experience of ages has shown, in many parts of the world, that all these 
causes, singly and combined, have failed to induce a case of pleuropneumonia. Whether 
we examine the agricultural annals of Scotland or Spain, of Canada or Texas, of South 
America or Australia, it will be found that alternations of temperature, chills, breathing 



24 DEPAET3IENT OF AGPJCULTUKE. 

the pure air of heaven as near the north pole as cattle have reached, drinking the frozen 
waters of North America or the stagnant pools in the swamps of the Carolinas and 
Louisiana during the hottest summers, the hard toils and sufferings of many a Mexican 
yoke of oxen, and, lastly, the greatest negligence of an agricultural people in relation to 
the improvements of breeds, one and all have failed ever to induce a single case of lung 
plague. Delafond had his theories. We have an array of facts on our side as great and 
as incontrovertible as any ever before adduced in support of any medical or other question. 
But brevity is not always desirable when the object to be attained is the diffusion of 
an abundant and accurate knowledge, and interesting points may be beneficially discussed 
under the separate heads arranged by Delafond. 

.SPECIAL CAUSES FAVORING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISEASE IN MOUNTAINS. 

Delafond asserts that in Switzerland, Piedmont, the Juras, the Dauphine, the Vosges, 
and the Pyrenees, pleuropneumonia has existed permanently. He does not ascribe this to 
geological formation, but he believes firmly, with almost all the yeterinarians in moun- 
tainous districts, that the disposition, topographic situation of mountains and valleys, the 
cold temperature during six months of the year; hoar frost, heavy fogs, coldness and 
moisture of the nights and mornings on woodland pastures, or near lakes and rivers; 
frequent atmosi^heric currents in spring and autumn; sudden changes from hot to cold, 
dry to wet, or vice versa, &c., &c., are the local determining causes which combine, with 
other causes that have yet to be noticed, in inducing the lung plague. Delafond's words 
are that the causes enumerated concur "d donner naism7ice d la pcripncumonie dans la 
haute et dans la basse montagne.'' 

Delafond erred. He had not read Haller; and had he visited any part where it was 
said the lung plague was a permanent infliction, he would have found, with Haller, that 
it was always arriving from somewhere, but never originating spontaneously. If we 
examine the geographical distribution of the disease we shall find the mountains of 
Northern Europe, of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, free from the disease. And 3'et the 
special causes he refers to predominate there. No part of Europe has been more constantly 
devastated than Holland, noted for its submerged condition and the vast drainage works 
which render it inhabitable. In the Briti.?h Isles the hills have always been most free 
from pleuropneumonia. It has prevailed at all altitudes, but the Scottish and Irish 
mountains, distant from high reads and the busy traffic in cattle, have been the healthiest 
parts of the country. And in America, too, the disease has traveled from the east south- 
ward along the coast, attacking cities and farms most in communication with those cities. 
It has not penetrated to the fine dairy farms on the hills in New York State, and is not 
indigenous on the Alleghanies. It were a much easier task to trace the malady to fertile 
A'alleys, where cattle are often covered, as in Holland, to be protected from cold, and to 
towns where animals are always in stables, than to trace the spontaneous origin of the 
disease to the mountains of Central and "Western Europe. 



There are many farmers, apt to reason on insufficient data, who notice coincidences 
between the development of the lung disease and the great increase in some countries in 
the number of distilleries, and the amount of grains and distillery waste fed to cattle. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 25 

Others declure that the disease commenced with the potato disease, and may be produced 
by feeding cattle on diseased potatoes. The introduction of turnip husbandly, whicli 
undoubtedly first made us acquainted with a form of red water in cows, and severe apo- 
plectic affections in sheej), has also been regarded as the cause in Great Britain of the 
lung disease in cattle. Delafond agrees that the foods named do not cause pleuropneu- 
monia, and it would be easy to fill a large volume with facts in support of this assertion ; 
and yet he goes on to say that food that is too succulent, distributed in large quantity 
among cattle that are being stall-fed, either for the butcher or for the production of milk, 
may induce {pent occasioner) pleuropneumonia. 

We are not ignorant of the precise results which ensue when an excessive quantity, 
inordinate richness, or diseased condition of the alimentary matters named may operate in 
inducing ill-effects. Diseased potatoes induce indigestion and colic. Turnips grown on 
ill-drained lands give rise to hsematuria, the red water of cows after parturition. Distil- 
lery products occasion diuresis, disturbed digestion, and, when still charged with alcoholic 
principles, give rise to cerebral disturbance, apoplexy, and death. These, and not pleuro- 
pneumonia, are known to us as capable of development from the abuse of otherwise useful 
articles of cattle-feeding. 

STABLING — STALL-FEEDING. 

Many have been the high-colored descriptions of the wretched stables, sheds, or what 
the Scotch people term "byres," in which cattle are housed. It matters not that for gen- 
erations cattle were similarly housed without suffering from pleuropneumonia. There are 
always those ready to skim the surface for reasons, and, after noticing the closeness, filth, 
and torturing narrowness of cattle stalls, ascribe to that any and every plague infecting 
the cow shed. It is needless to walk the observer through the fetid holes in which cattle 
are kept for the supply of milk in Copenhagen, where pleuropneumonia has not been 
observed, nor to refer to the days when the London dairymen, richer in money and cows, 
kept the latter worse, bred from them regularly, and could maintain country farms on which 
to graze them while calving. It stands to reason, according to some, that such conditions 
must induce pleuropneumonia. In America, sensation articles and skillful illustrations 
have not been wanting, and no one can hesitate in declaring that the cow sheds of Brook- 
lyn and other cities are a disgrace to a civilized peoj^le. 

Huzard first described the cow houses of Paris as they were in 1793. It is needless 
to follow him through a long descrii^tion of low sheds, in which a man could not stand 
erect, where cows were crippled into permanent rest, with their horns overgrown and dis- 
torted for want of regular wear and tear, and in which fowls, joigs, and rabbits shared shelter 
and a pestilential atmosphere. Delafond has described the wretched stabling of hill farmers. 
How, then, can it be said that in these sheds, where the lung plague always prevails, the 
conditions do not exist for its spontaneous origin? 

It cannot be disputed that there are conditions — as when an animal suffers from pleuro- 
pneumonia, and has but one lung to breathe with — under which a large volume of pure 
air may turn the scale from death to life. It is also undoubted that the concentration of 
the poison so freely given off in this contagious disease must materially favor its repro- 
duction in the systems of susceptible animals. But no one who has witnessed the slow 
i 



2(5 DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 

procrress of tlie malady in town dairies, and the rapid destruction of lierds in open tields, 
can for a moment believe in the usual aggravation of the malady by bad stabling. Where 
the malady has been induced among young stock by large dairymen to prevent subsequent 
inconveniences, when the animals are fit to breed and yield milk, it has been found that 
most survived when kept warm in close sheds. Recommendations as to ventilating sta- 
bles after disease had commenced have at times resulted in a much more rapid destruc- 
tion of the cattle, and we are bound to admit that a priori reasoning has often been at 
fault on this subject. 

ABUNDANT MILK SECRETION. 

The universal prevalence of the lung plague in town dairies, where cows are kept for 
an abundant production of milk, has led to the theory that the drain on the system thus 
kept up induces the pleuropneumonia. It is asserted, and there appears to be some ground 
for the belief, that the human female, as well as the female among lower animals, is more 
susceptible to the influences of contagion than the male, but so far no facts of importance 
have ever been published indicating that an abundant secretion of milk induces specific 
disease and malignant fevers. Delafond has referred to abundant production in dairies 
where -pleuropneumonia was always troublesome, and expresses himself -as follows: "I 
firmly believe that cows which calve every ten or eleven months, and which are constantly 
yielding an -abundant riiilk secretion, whether by being fed abundantly on rich provender, 
or placing them in hot, damp stables, so as to check cutaneous and pulmonary secretion, 
soon have their chest enfeebled, and are seized with pleuropneumonia; or, at all events, 
and that is incontestable, they become predisposed to the disease, which they easily get on 
being exposed to the breathing of a cold air, or to cold on the surface of the skin." 

Here, again, it is not difiicult to trace the real efiects of an abundant milk secretion 
in stables that are close and ill-drained. Up to the time when the lung disease first 
appeared in London it was not uncommon for cows to be milked for several consecutive 
years. Large milkers were always kept on, and had a calf annually until too old or killed 
by disease. The disease that killed them was not pleuropneumonia, but tuberculosis. That 
malady, once so prevalent, is almost unknown now, inasmuch as the London cow feeders 
have ceased to breed from their cows, and the average duration of a cow's lifetime in a 
London shed does not exceed six months. 

DKINKING COLD OR IMPURE WATER. 

It is hardly necessary to refer at length to this rejnited cause of pleuroneumonia. Ts^ot 
onlv is there an absence of fact in support of the production of the malady by cold water 
in winter and stagnant water in summer, but it is well known that the malady is usually 
most rife in many cities during the summer, when cattle are allowed to roam at pleasure 
during the day, coming in contact, and, therefore, infecting each other, while the supply 
of water is good, and indeed unexceptionable. Were it worth while, I could easily 
furnish many fiicts under this head indicating that there is no relation whatever be- 
tween the condition and quantity of water cattle drink and the development of the lung 
disease. 



THE LUFG PLAGUE. 27 



CHILLS — BREATHING A COLD AIE. 



East winds in Scotland were blamed by Professor Dick as the active agency inducing 
bovine pleuropneumonia. He overlooked the fact that the east winds prevailed before 
1843, when the lung plague had not yet penetrated Scotland'. I have seen on the coast of 
Fife a herd of cattle of all ages seized with bronchitis — a curable, benignant, and acute 
inflammation, presenting none of the characteristics of the lung plague ; and there is no doubt 
that the deficient shelter, intense cold, and rapid changes of the weather may induce 
sporadic and non-contagious inflammations of the respiratory organs. But this is not pleuro- 
pneumonia. 

It is not at all uncommon in Great Britain, Holland, and elsewhere, for farmers to 
ascribe the disease to chills; and its prevalence among drift cattle has been referred to 
transportation for long distances in ojsen railway cars, on steamboats, and exposure in 
markets. But who ever heard of western cattle being struck with the lung plague in 
passing from Illinois to New York? Spanish cattle, reared in a country free from pleuro- 
pneumonia, suffer all the hardships of rough weather at sea, but are landed invariably 
sound in their lungs in Liverpool or London. Danish cattle cross the German Ocean and 
suS'er much ill-treatment, but their dissection reveals at no time the lesions of the lung 
plague. 

Not so with Dutch or Irish cattle. They make a short sea voyage from an infected 
country, and propagate pleuropneumonia wherever they come in contact with susceptible 
cattle. 

Innumerable observations undoubtedly show that the lung plague prevails as much, 
and often more, during hot weather than in the winter months; it spares many cold 
countries into which it has no opportunity of transportation, and visits the most genial 
climate whither sick cattle have been taken. Italy and Australia furnish as good fields 
for its development as the SavIss Alps, and the colder portions of the United States. 

OVERWORK. 

In France and Italy it has been asserted that keeping oxen long in the yoke, exhaust- 
ing them, starving, and often drenching them with rain, induce the lung disease. I know 
not what diseases such practices have not been said to cause. If we survey the countries 
where pleuropneumonia has been longest known, and where its ravages have been most 
intense, we shall find that, as a rule, it prevails among milk cattle that never work, steers 
that are grazed or stall-fed, and never broken to the plow or wagon, and herds of breeding 
stock, as in the Australian runs, never accustomed to restraint or punishment. 

HEREDITARY PREDISPOSITIOX-^COXGENITAL PLEUROPNEUMONIA. 

It is necessary to establish clearly the difference between hereditary taint and con- 
genital disease. A malady is termed hereditary when it is transmitted from parent to 
'oftspring by virtue of a constitutional defect, deformity, or taint. It may, but usually 
does not, appear at birth. The best example is furnished by cancer, which occurs fre- 
quently in the human subject, and recurs for generations. None of the specific or conta- 
gious fevers are hereditary, and although the question has been discussed in relation to 



28 DEPAPtTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

j)l(niropneninonia, it can easily be settled. Delafoud thought that the deterioration of 
breeds might fovor its development. And why, then, has not the disease appeared in 
South America, while it has decimated the matchless herds of England and Australia? 
It may be accepted as a settled truth that the lung disease, like the rinderpest and foot 
and mouth disease, spreads without reference to any peculiar breed. Tmprovr'd nnd unim- 
proved breeds are alike susceptible of the affection. 

Calves are at times, however, born of sick cows, and present unmistakable signs of 
the lung plague. The first observation of this sort was made by Hilfelhelseim, in the 
Rhine provinces, who dissected the foetuses of cows that aborted under the disease. He 
found the lesions of pleuropneumonia in these animals. Delafond made similar observa- 
tions, but has created some confusion by including cases of tuberculosis with others of 
pleuropneumonia. In 1839, a cow that had gone six months in calf was killed in Frei- 
burg, Switzerland, while suffering from pleuropneumonia. The foetus presented signs of 
the malady. It is common for calves to take the disease soon after birth, and I have 
shown in a government report that the contagious cattle diseases of Ireland, including 
pleuropneumonia, were mainly due to the active trade in sucking calves between the large 
towns of England and Dublin. 

It has been necessary frequently to refer to animals that are susceptible and insus- 
ceptible to attacks of pleuropneumonia. This has been ascribed by some to constitutional 
or inbred resistance or weakness. It is due to what pathologists term, for want of a bet- 
ter name or explanation, idiosyncrasy. At times it appears that young animals resist the 
disease better than old ones ; and Mr. Harvey, of Glasgow, found that by communicating 
the disease to yearlings and two-yearolds he had fewer deaths than when he had it among 
his pregnant and milch cows. But, as Sauberg has observed, outbreaks occur in which 
the older animals seem to bear up better than the young ones, and it is difficult, on pres- 
ent data, to establish any rule on the point. 

It may be accepted as proved that all cattle, whatever their age, breed, sex, condi- 
tion, &c., are susceptible to pleuropneumonia until they have been once seized, and then 
it is rare to witness a second attack. An insusceptible animal is, therefore, an animal that 
has once had the disease, either in a mild or latent, or severe and apparent form. 

It is, however, certain that a degree of insusceptibility maj' be traced in animals that 
have never been affected, and we are quite at a loss to account for this. Similar observa- 
tions are made in relation to all fevers affecting men and animals. A person has been 
known to nurse many during an outbreak of yellow fever, escape and live for a year, when 
the disease has reapjjeared, and the individual who has been proof against the malady one 
year has been among the first to die from it the next. 

Not a few cases have been recorded of rinderpest — and I have witnessed a remark- 
able one — of a cow standing for weeks by animals that died of the malady, and which 
never showed signs of it. More strange than this are two observations, one in Lyons in 
1853, and the other in Vienna in 1865, of dogs which could not be rendered rabid by the 
bites of, and inoculations from, undoubtedly rabid dogs. For the time, at all events, we 
must rest satisfied with the pathologist's explanation that these animals had a peculiar con- 
stitutional immunity or idiosyncrasy. 



THE LUXG TLAGUE, 29 



C9^"TAGI0N Ajsm) infection. 



Not only have theories in relation to the cause or combinations of causes wliich may 
lead to the development of pleuropneumonia been unsatisfactory, but opportunities are con- 
stantly presenting themselves to test the fact that privations, overcrowding, impure food 
and water, &c., singly or combined, may kill, but never induce the disease wliich presents 
the characteristics of the one referred to in this report. 

The malady may be induced at will, by placing an animal suffering from it among 
healthy ones, and by direct inoculation. These are the only methods by which it is 
propagated. 

Careful experiments have been instituted on this subject, and although it might be 
easy to refer to very numerous observations, it may suffice at present to quote from a 
French report, edited by Professor Bouley, and which was prepared by a committee of 
distinguished agriculturists, medical and veterinary professors, at the request of the 
minister of agriculture. 

FIRST SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS. 

The first series of experiments was conducted at Pomerage, in the well-known and 
vast domain of Rambouillet. The whole is inclosed by walls, surrounded by woods, and 
perfectly isolated. A stable was separated into two distinct compartments. In the first, 
designated A, with a southwest exposure, was a single door leading out on a sufficiently 
wide plot of ground, bounded by water where the cattle could be taken to drink. Every 
23recaution was taken to prevent the cattle in A. from coming within reach of those in the 
second stable, B. Tlie latter was situated to the left of A, and completely separated by 
a solid wall. 

Pleuropneumonia had never existed in the commune of Piambouillet. Messrs. 
Pvenault, Delafond, and Jouet chose the cattle and subjected them to a close examination. 
The herd consisted of three bulls and seventeen cows. These animals were distinguished 
by names and numbers, and distributed in the two stables in relation to age, breed, and 
sex, so as to secure an equable distribution. 

Three sick cows were sent to Rambouillet on the 14th of jSTovember, 1851 — one from 
the Departement du Nord, the second from Mont Souris, and the third from Vaugirard. 
Three more sick cows were sent on the 2d of December, 1851. Of these six sick animals, 
three died and three recovered. One lived three days in stable A, a second five days and 
a night in the same, and the third, in stable B, survived ten days and two nights. 

Of the three sick cows that recovered, one, admitted into stable A on the 10th of 
November, presented symptoms of the malady up to the 20th of December, viz : for thirty- 
four days. The second entered stable B on the 2d of December, and was sick for nine- 
teen days. The third, also admitted in the same stable, continued ill for twenty-eight days. 

Stable A. — On the 21st of November, 1851, viz: only six days after the introduction 
into this stable of two sick cows, a peculiar cough was shown by two cows, (La Noire, 
No. 16, and Norma, No. 2.) Their lungs appeared sound, and they continued to eat and 
ruminate. 

The same symptom manifested itself successively, as follows : 

First, on Coquette, (No. 3,) on the 22d of November. 



30 DEPAKTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

Secontl, on Rosine, (No. 9,) on the 23cl of November. 

Third, on Berthe, (No. 8,) on the 25th of November. 

Fourth, on Babet, (No. 7,) on the 3d of December. 

Fifth, on CUira, (No. 1,) on the 5th of December. 

Sixth, on Olga, (No. 6,) on the 7th of December. 

Seventh, on Martin, (No. 15,) on the 10th of December. 

Thus, twenty-four days after the admission of two sick cows, and eight days after 
the introduction of a third sick animal, out of ten healthy animals nine presented the 
abnormal indication of a peculiar cough. Only one cow (La Caille, No. 11) continued in 
perfect health. 

After this first sign of sickness, the characteristic symptoms of pleuropneumonia 
appeared in six cows, in the following order: 

First, Olga, (No. 6,) thirty-one days after first contact. 

Second, La Noire, (No. 16,) thirty-two days after first contact. 

Third, Clara, (No. 1,) thirty -five days after first contact. 

Fourth, Kosine, (No. 9,) thirty-five days after first contact. 

Fifth, Norma, (No. 2,) thirty-seven days after first contact. 

Sixth, Coquette, (No. 3,) fifty-seven days after first contact. 

Of these six animals ouly one died, viz; Olga, (No. 6,) and her carcass was removed 
to Alfort on the 6th of January, and there dissected by the members of the commission. 

Of the five other cows in the stable, the reporters say that symptoms of variable 
intensity and duration appeared, and they all recovered. Certain lesions were, however, 
recognized some time after by dissection. 

Of the three animals (Berthe, No. 8," Babet, No. 7, and Martin, No. 15) which began 
to cough the first day after contact with the sick cows, the only symptom which lasted, 
and is said to have continued for several months, was the cough. 

Stable B. — On the 25th of November, 1851, viz: nine days after the introduction in 
stable B of the two sick cows, (Nos. 23 and 24,) the healthy cows began to cough, in the 
following order: 

First, Suzon, (No. 13,) on the 26th of November. 

Second, La Garde, (No. 20,) on the 2d of December. 

Third, ^larton, (No. 5,) on the 3d of December. 

Fourth, Kettley, (No. 17,) on the 7th of December. 

Fifth, Leduc, (No. 18,) on the lOlhof December. 

Sixth, Nebula, (No. 4,) on the 18th of December. 

Seventh, Ilomard, (No. 14,) on the 28th of December. 

So that, thirty-two days after the introduction of sick cows in stable B, out of ten 
healthy animals seven presented the peculiar cough before mentioned. 

Three animals (Junon, No. 19, Bringe, No. 10, and Biche, No. 12) continued in per- 
fect health. 

Well-marked symptoms of pleuropneumonia presented themselves on four cows, in 
the following order : 

First, La" Garde, (No. 20,) sixteen days after first contact. 

Second, Leduc, (No. 18,) thirty days after first contact. 

Third, Marton, (No. 5,) thirty-five days after first contact. 

Fourth, Homard, (No. 14,) forty days after first contact. 



THE LUXG PLAGUE. 31 

Two of these animals died after nine days' illness. The other two were quite conva- 
lescent in twenty-eight and thirty-five days respectively. The three other animals con- 
tinued to cough for some months without manifesting more serious symptoms. 

The conclusions drawn by the French commissioners from the foregoing experiments 
were as follows : 

The epizootic pleuropneumonia of cattle is susceptible of transmission from sick to 
healthy animals by cohabitation. 

Twenty per cent, of the animals manifest a resistance to the contagion. 

Eighty per cent, manifest various effects of the contagious influence. 

Fifty per cent, are seized with decided symptoms of pleuropneumonia, and of these 
fifteen per cent- succumb, and thirty-five per cent, recover. 

Immediate contact is not necessary for the transmission of the disease, and the first 
affected were among the farthest removed from the sick. 

A better idea of the results of the very. important experiments thus related may be 
formed by the subjoined tables, which show at a glance the conditions under which the 
disease was propagated. I have enlarged the French tables, and included all the data of 
importance. 

SECOND SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS. 

The second series of experiments was instituted with a view to learn whether the 
animals that had been once affected enjoyed an immunity against further attacks, and 
whether those that had resisted the disease were susceptible of subsequent infection. 

On the 5th of March, 1852, there were placed in the stable on the farm of Charen- 
tonneau — 

First. Five cows from Pomerage, viz : Bringe, (No. 10,) from stable B, which had 
resisted the disease ; Kettley, (No. 17,) ditto ; Clara, (No. 1,) from stable A, which first 
showed signs of pleuropneumonia on the 21st of December, 1851 ; Norma, (No. 2,) from 
the same stable, affected the 23d of December ; La Coquette, ditto, date of attack 21st of 
January, 1852. 

Second. With these five cows were placed two perfectly healthy animals, (Marion, 
No. 7, and Zula, No. 8.) 

• Third. Lastly, six cows, (Rose de Mai, No. 1, Mille Fleurs, No. 4, Jacqueline, No. 3, 
Blanchette, No. 8, Rosette, No. 3, and Bucheronne, No. 5,) inoculated with blood, nasal 
discharge, and fecal fluids, were also submitted to the influence of cohabitation. 

On the 21st of January, 1852, two sick cows were placed in this stable. One of these 
cows was left eighteen days in the stable, and then killed to serve for the purpose of inoc- 
ulation experiments. On the 27th of June another sick cow was placed in the same stable. 

The result was that the five animals from Pomerage resisted the disease as well as 
one of the healthy ones. The second healthy cow was seized with the malady thirty-five 
days after cohabitation. 

In order to confirm these results, the commissioners caused to be placed in stable A 
all that remained of the first herd. On the Gth of July, 1852, five cows were sent from 
Paris to Pomerage. Not one of the animals that had served in previous experiments 
contracted the disease. 

The history of pleuropneumonia, couplod with the observations made on the supposed 



.12 DKl'AimiENT OF AGRICULTUIIE. 

casual at^encies capable of inducing the disease, is almost sufficient to establish the purely , 
contatrious nature of the disease, but there are several important proofs that deserve 
mention. 

It is seen in all countries where the lung plague appears, that it spreads in proportion 
to the opportunities of contagion. It is worst in large cities, where cow feeders have to 
make frequent purchases. It is apt to diminish in severity — as, per example, in the city 
of Washington, in Dublin, Ireland, and elsewhere — so long as the cows are confined to 
stables in the winter and different herds have no chance of approach. When spring and 
fine weather arrive, and the cows are turned out during part of the day, or altogether, on 
commons, jjarks, or pastures, the presence of any infection results in the rapid dissemina- 
tion of the- disease. I had special occasion to study this among the cows turned out into 
the PliLX'nix Park, Dublin, and on the commons near Newcastle, in England. 

In 1862 I chose a large estate in Perthshire, presenting the feature of being cut up 
into farms, on some of which cattle were wholly bred ; whereas on others purchases had 
occasionally been made. The result was the demonstration of the fact that the disease 
appeared only where it was carried by diseased cattle. The estate was that of Lord 
Willoughby d'Eresby, comprising twenty-six farms, on eleven of which the disease was 
at diflerent times imported; whereas on the fifteen other farms, interspersed between 
eleven, tlie only rejiort to be obtained was, "Never had the disease. Breeds his own 
stock." 

A similar inquiry relating to the parish of St. Martin, in Perthshire, showed that 
pleuropneumonia had appeared there in 18-15. Since then ten farms have been visited by 
the disease, and in every case the attack has been distinctly traced to contact with diseased 
cattle. Nineteen farms on which cattle are bred and purchases rarely made have enjoyed 
a perfect immunity. 

The high-prized herds of England, which have been carefully isolated by their pro- 
prietors, have always remained free from the disease, and short-horn breeders have, in many 
instances, exercised the greatest care not to have any admixture with strange animals, 
which would certainly have destroyed their stock. 

It is needless to enter at length into the subject of authorities on this point. The 
voices of the ablest and most careful observers, who have studied pleuropneumonia prac- 
tically, are unanimous on the point; and although in every country the tendency has been 
at first to regard this insidious disease as originating from atmospheric agencies, when the 
facts have been probed by skillful men the earlier opinions have been rejected. Gerlach, 
in 1835, Delafond, in 1844, and Sauberg, in 1846, published very abundant and conclu- 
sive testimony on this point. 

THE PATHOLOGY OR NATURE OF THE LUNG PLAGUE. 

There is nothing more dangerous and better calculated to retard inquiry and truth 
than the common practice of speculating as to the nature of specific diseases in men and 
animals by the analogical method. Bovine pleuropneumonia has been widely supposed 
to be an inflammation of the lungs, governed by the same conditions that operate in rela- 
tion to ordinary inilammations of the chest in the human family, and, indeed, in all mam- 
malia. Tlie cliaractcristic signs of small-pox depend on a cutaneous inflammation, but 
liavo appearances diflerent from llio results of a scald. It is as rational to define variola 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 33 

inflammation of the skin as it is to declare that the lung disease of cattle is an inflamma- 
tion of the air passages and lungs. The local phenomena of the disease are associated with 
and characterized by inflammatory changes, but the cause in operation inducing all this is 
peculiar and specific. 

The lung plague is a malignant fever, never generated de novo, so far as reliable obser- 
vation has yet reached, dependent on the introduction of a virus or contagion into the 
system of a healthy animal. This principle produces a local change if inserted into any part 
provided with connective or fatty tissue, into which it most readily penetrates. The same 
local change is produced by its contact with the delicate mucous surface of the bronchial 
tubes. It adheres, spreads, not unlike cancer, regardless of the nature and importance of the 
structure it invades, and traverses the lymphatic vessels to form deposits in the neighboring 
lymphatic glands, but not generally throughout the lymphatic system. At first there is 
no great intensity of inflammation. Suppuration is only a later complication from the 
concomitant non-specific change in masses of areolar or connective tissue. Congestion and 
serous infiltration rapidly surround the spot inoculated. Heat, redness, pain, and swell- 
ing manifest themselves, and the reproduction and extension of the tissue-destroying virus 
may be judged by the extent of swelling ; the large quantity of yellow gelp.tinous serosity or 
exudation which fills the lung tissue thickens the white fibrous structures, blocks up the 
adipose tissue, in which it displaces the fat corpuscles, and is limited in many cases only 
by the extent of connective tissue it can invade, by gravitation or otherwise, and the 
endurance of the animal under a process so prostrating and depletive. 

That all this happens, we have tested by experiment. A susceptible animal is inocu- 
lated in the dewlap, and, at the expiration of a week or nine days, a swelling begins, infil- 
tration extends beneath the chest and abdomen, involves both fore legs, is attended with 
great fever, prostration, and death. In a second case, a drop of virus is inserted in the tip 
of the tail. It may produce a scarcely perceptible local change, when suddenly a swelling 
occurs at the root of the tail. The lymphatic glands there situated enlarge, the areolar tissue 
is distended with a deposit, such as ordinarily occurs in this disease in the thorax, and so 
widely does this invade the open tissues of the pelvis as to close the rectum, sometimes 
to induce retention of urine, and, in the majority of instances, to kill. • 

As in the case of variolous inoculation, the effects often vary with the quantity of the 
virus introduced into a part. Many and deep punctures, especially in soft and vascular 
textures, will produce malignant variola in inoculating sheep. On the other hand, a single 
and superficial puncture results in a single pustule and imperceptible general symptoms. It 
is thus with the lung disease in cattle. 

The slight local change produced by a small quantity of virus, even though it has 
been impossible to note any systemic disturbance, stands for an attack of the disease, 
and the animal enjoys almost a perfect immunity from further attacks. 

Viewed in this light, we have to classify bovine pleuropneumonia with the contagious 
fevers, and we must recognize that it is peculiar and diff"erent from all other known diseases 
of man or beast. The ordinary phenomena of inflammations are but superadded con- 
ditions, and an animal may have the disease without indicating their presence. 
5 



34 DErARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

MEDICAL TREATMENT OF THE LTJl^Q PLAGUE. 

A general and practical review of the means employed for tlie cure of the lung disease 
results in the conviction that, as a means to be relied on for the protection of the farmer's 
stock and the herds of a country, they are worse than useless ; and it is necessary to im- 
press this lesson on the public mind, as there are always those who base their futile efforts in 
this respect on the declaration that all diseases are curable if we only know the means with 
which to attack them and the best antidotes. When science has sufficiently advanced, it is 
thought disease will lose all its power ; and, in accordance with extravagant views in this 
direction, men and beasts ought to attain a state of immortality on earth. 

It is an undoubted fact that wherever rational preventive measures have been super- 
seded by the efforts even of the most skilled veterinary practitioners, the mortality by the 
lung plague has always attained its highest point and continued without intermission. It 
must be thus to the end of time. 

Nevertheless, circumstances arise when a certain relief may be afforded by remedial 
agents. A valuable animal or highly prized herd, so isolated from other stock as to pre- 
vent contagion, may be subjected to rational medical treatment. A survey of the means 
suggested in the past, of the principles which should guide us in the present state of knowl- 
edge, and of the details concerning my own practice, may, therefore, be considered impor- 
tant in this place. 

Bourgclat, in 1769, recommended abundant blood-letting the first, second, and third 
day, (when the blood fails to coagulate it is a sign that this operation is useless,) emollient 
injections, bland or soothing beverages, [breuvages adoucissants,) emollient masticatories, 
and emollient fumigations of the nose. When the disease is far advanced blood-letting 
must be avoided, and reliance placed in cinchona bark and purgative injections. Bourge- 
lat also prescribed small blood-lettings, low diet, emollient clysters, and fumigations of 
acetic acid in the stables. 

There is little interesting on this subject up to the date of Delafoud's work, 1844. He 
opens his chapter on the curative treatment of acute pleuropneumonia as follows : "Many 
{sersons, and some veterinarians, have sought in the arsenal of pharmacology the specific 
remedies for the cure of pleuropneumonia. I declare that for the cure of this disease there 
exists no specific, but rather rational curative means based on the nature, seat, and stage 
of the malady. The two great secrets, in my opinion, are, first, in recognizing pleuro- 
pneumonia at its commencement ; and, second, in adopting the means that I have to 
describe." 

I cannot, with fairness, make a very brief summary of Delafoud's recommendations, 
and, in the main, shall give a translation of them. When pleuropneumonia, he says, 
aflfects a herd of cattle, the first animal affected must be removed and placed in an isolated 
spot, to be carefully examined during the entire progress of the case. Frequent examina- 
tions must be made of each animal in the herd. All that show a short, quick breathing, 
numbering from twenty-five to thirty respirations per minute, and an accelerated pulse, 
beating from sixty to sixty-five times per minute, in which the chest is evidently flattened 
either on one side or the other, whose respiratory murmurs are loud and associated 
with a friction sound, and which have their visible mucous membranes reddened, must be 
regarded as subjects which, notwithstanding that they continue to eat and drink, ruminate, 



THE LUXG PLAGUE. 35 

and give milk as in healtli, will in three or four days cease to eat, ruminate, and give 
milk. They will moan and indicate all the signs of pleuropneumonia at a period when it 
is severe and often incurable. 

An animal chosen with care in the earliest stage, and isolated, must be placed on low 
diet, and allowed only a little green grass or hay. Six to eight pounds of blood must be 
drawn, and this repeated eight or ten hours later. As soon as the blood has ceased to flow 
the body and limbs must be rubbed for half an hour with hay or straw wisps, and a good 
covering must be thrown over the body. Three hours after the first bleeding, and every 
two hours afterward for sixteen hours, a draught must be given, consisting of one drachm 
of tartar emetic in a quart of river or spriiig water. For animals under two years of age 
the dose of the tartrate of antimony should be half a drachm, and for animals from three 
to eight years of age a drachm and a half each time. 

After the second bleeding the draughts are continued, and if, after twelve hours, the 
respirations have not been lowered to twenty or three-and-twenty per minute, a third ab- 
straction of the same quantity of blood must be made. If the pulse becomes strong and 
full, the breathing less frequent, the mucous membranes paler, and especially if the respi- 
ratory murmurs are less loud, it may be considered that the animal is saved, 0,nd that its 
convalescence will be short. 

Independently of the bleedings and the administration of emetic tartar, about fifteen 
liters* of water, with three liters of barley, may be boiled, throwing off the first water and 
adding thirty liters more. Two pounds of sulphate of soda are added to this barley tea, 
and one liter of this mixture is given, alternately with the emetic, every three hours. 

Marshmallow, linseed, or coarse bran, is to be made into a decoction, and admin- 
istered in the form of four injections daily. This same material may be used warm to 
steam the animal's nostrils, by placing it in a stable pail and covering the animal's head 
and the pail with a large cloth. 

These measures, says Delafond, must be continued for three or four days — indeed, dur- 
ing the entire first period of the disease ; and it is rare that the respiratory movements do 
not return to their normal condition. If the patient purges, injections of bran decoction 
are recommended. 

Animals that present a yellow or Tpale and infiltrated aspect of the conjunctivse must 
be bled to the extent of one liter or a liter and a half daily only, as heavy blood-lettings 
are prejudicial in such cases. 

When pleuropneumonia begins by an inflammation of the pleura, the animal must be 
bled to the extent of two to four pounds two or three times daily. The emetic draughts 
are to be persevered in, the body well rubbed and clothed, and the sides of the chest must 
be rubbed with hot vinegar, or with a mixture of three ounces of ammonia to one ounce of 
vinegar. An infusion, in two liters of hot vinegar, of a pound of white or black hellebore, 
or of the large horse-radish sage, may be found economical in some parts. If these can- 
not be had, a blistering tincture may be prepared, as follows : Powdered cantharides, two 
ounces ; powdered euphorbium, one drachm ; alcohol, one-half pound. The three sub- 
stances must be left in a bottle for some days, and then filtered. 

If the symptoms subside, the animal is to be kept under shelter and on moderate 
diet. If, on the contrary, the pleurisy terminates in effusion, and the lung tissue is en- 
gorged and hepatized, no hopes can be entertained of the animal's recovery. 

* Liter=2.113 pints. 



3(5 j)EI'ai;tmi-:nt of agiucultuke. 

When Uie lung disease commences hy an active inflammation of the bronchial tubes, 
the jugular vein m°usfc bo freely opened and six to ten pounds of blood abstracted ; other 
cmissimis, from four to eight pounds each, must be repeated daily for two or three days. 
If the inflammation continues and spreads to the lung tissue, the dry rubbing, emollient 
fumif-ations. and injections of marshmallow or bran decoctions, containing three ounces of 
sulphate of soda, must be persisted in. This treatment must be continued four or five days ; 
but if the cou'^h continues, a seton must be inserted in the dewlap, and the seton medicated 
with the vinegar infusion of the white or black hellebore. When the inflammation sub- 
sides, the sternutatory vinegar prescribed by Mathieu renders good service. It is com-, 
pounded as follows : Alum, sulphate of zinc, Sj^anish pepper, turpentine, one ounce each ; 
camphor, two drachms, strong Burgundy vinego.r, one pint. The solid substances are to 
be powdered and mixed with the vinegar' and turpentine. They are to be macerated for 
eight hours, placed in a well corked bottle, and well shaken before being given to the ani- 
mal. Three times a day, and when the animal is fasting, a small teaspoonful of vinegar is 
poured into one or the other of the nostrils. The animals that have once had this opera- 
tion performed can with difficulty be induced to submit to it again. Immediately after 
the administration, big tears drop from the eyes, and violent sneezing tends to discharge 
mucosities and the false membranes which obstruct the bronchial tubes and nasal cavities. 
Should the bronchitis terminate in inflammation of the pulmonary tissue, and this pass 
rapidly into a state of hepatization, further measures must be resorted to. 

When pleuropneumonia is simple or complicated by pleurisy or bronchitis, and termi- 
nates in ganf^rene, the case may be regarded as irremediable. The same is true if there is 
an abundant effusion in the pleura. The animal soon dies asphyxiated. 

The symptoms of a severe and desperate case are suspension of feeding and rumina- 
tion, tympanitis, or distension of the paunch by gas immediately after feeding, pulse from 
sixty to seventy and small, tenderness on pressure of the sides of the chest, absence of re- 
spiratory murmur and friction sound, short and moaning expiration, violent heart-beats, 
driveling at the mouth, and the obstinate maintenance of the standing posture. It is 
difficult, with such symptoms, for the animal to recover, but cases of slow restoration to 
liealth have occurred. 

At this stage the animal is to be bled daily to the extent of two to four pounds for two 
or three days. The emetic drinks must not be given, but the sulphate of soda should be 
persevered with. The injections, fumigations, and dry rubbings must be followed up ; 
a seton and one or two rowels on the sides of the chest are to be inserted. A little easily- 
digested food is to be given the animal, and about an ounce of salt daily. If the mucous 
membrane remains pale and the animal feeble, drinks containing vegetable tonics, such as 
gentian, &c., must be used. Dieterichs recommends tar-water, to which two drachms of 
essence of turpentine are added, and which is used for fifteen or twenty days. When an 
animal is convalescent it may be turned out for an hour or two during fine weather. A 
relapse is to be treated by a slight bleeding, low diet, frictions, and sulphate of soda. 

Such are the long and precise recommendations which Delafond gave, and which may 
be viewed, in the main, as measures from first to last to be scrupulously avoided. Dela- 
fond's belief in the treatment he recommends as benefiting sick animals is but one of 
innumerable instances of men being misled by nature's own recuperative powers. 

Sauberir, in his prize essay published in 1846, devoted a chapter to the therapeutics 



TEE LFXCt tlague. 37 

of pleuropneumonia^ but he is not sparing in words of caution, and in impressing on tlie 
minds of agriculturists that there is no specific against the disease.* He indorses Dela- 
fond's practice of blood-letting, and says that if this is resorted to at the right time tlie 
animal improves at once. If the patient is young, robust, in good condition; if the mucous 
membranes are red, the pulse small, hard, and frequent, breathing short and quick, heart- 
beats scarcely to be felt, then ten to fifteen or twenty pounds of blood must be abstracted. 
It is only by this means, says Sauberg, that the abundant exudation of plastic lymph in 
the lungs, as well as other evil results, can be averted. If no improvement is observed 
within eighteen to twenty-four hours, a second and even larger blood-letting must be 
performed. After the fifth day of an attack of pleuropneumonia Sauberg rarely bled, and 
whenever he did so he observed great prostration and often death. It is evident, he says, 
that, whereas an early bleeding may prevent the exudation, should this have taken place, the 
loss of blood may undermine the vital powers so as to prevent the possibility of recovery. 

Saubers; is one of the strongest advocates of derivatives. He recommends a seton 
on the dewlap, or one on either side of the chest. He also advises a blister spread over 
a surface deprived of hair to the extent of a man's hand, behind each shoulder-blade. 
The vesicant he uses is a compound of potassio-tartrate of antimony, powdered cantharides, 
and euphorbium of each three quentchen,f lard four loth, J and one loth of oil of turpentine. 
He also suggests the application of the red-hot iron to the sides of the chest. In slight 
cases rowels dressed with black hellebore suffice. The quicker and more active the results 
of these applications, the more favorable is their operation. 

The internal remedies recommended by Sauberg consist mainly of tartar emetic, 
which, he says, is attended with the best results. He gives it in the morning in one or 
two drachm doses, with two or three ounces of sulphate of soda, an ounce of nitrate of 
potash, and half an ounce of powdered juniper berries. This has an effect on the ani- 
mal's bowels. In gastric or bilious complications he gives the emetic tartar in two to four 
ounces of white soap. 

When the fever is slight, the cough strong, and appetite good, Sauberg advises not 
to bleed, and the same applies to old and weak animals, especially cows liable to abort, 
&c. He still persists in the tartarized antimony, and gives it with ten to sixty grains of 
asafetida, and an ounce of powdered juniper berries, twice daily in water. Bitter herbs, 
oil of turpentine, camphor, tar water, arnica, fennel, &c , are remedies suggested. 

A wise precaution is insisted on by Sauberg, and that is to avoid a profuse and 
debilitating purgation. 

The practice recommended by Delafond and Sauberg has very largely been carried 
out and recommended by other authors, such as Kreutzer, Roll, &c., even of late. Roll 
adds to the treatment by bleeding, tartar emetic, etc., the administration, in cachectic and 
feeble animals, of sulphate of iron with tar-water, or of alum, tannin, mineral acids, and 
other tonics. 

*At page 131 of Saulierg's work, already quoted, the author says: "Wir haben kein Arcanum gegen die Lun- 
geuseuehe des Rindviehes uud werdeu uuch keins iinden ; wenn mau nur heriieksichtigt wie die Krankheit bel den 
einzelnen Thieren so vcrschieden i»t, uud die Mittel, die hei einem Kranken :uit Nutzen angewandt wurden, hei deui 
anderen, wenn nieht Naththeile, doch uicht gleich giinstige Erfolge zu Wego brachten, so wird uian sich vrohl 
bescheideu. Wo der Laudruaun die Behandliiug der Kiauken nieht einem Thierarzt auveitranen kann oder -will, sollte 
er nur nach allgemeinen Grundsutzen verfahreu, eine zweckmassige Diiit anordnen, und nieht sein Heil in kostbareu 
Jlitteln snchen, der Verbreitung der Seuche miiglichst vorbauen, uud, wo Heilung der Erkrankten nieht moglich ist, 
das Schlachten vorziehen." 

t Quentchcn ^ 1 drachm. ; Loth = one-half ounce. 



38 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

In England practitioners have resorted to various methods of treatment. The practice 
of blood-letting has long been abandoned, but the advocates of setons, and more particu- 
larly of active blistering agents, such as croton oil, cantharides, and tartar emetic ointmeut, 
still exist. Small doses of calomel and tartar emetic, stimulating draughts containing creo- 
sote, turpentine, sulphuric ether, carbonate of ammonia, and alcohol, have been more gener- 
ally employed. Mineral acids, the administration daily of dilute suljahuric acid especially, 
and an early resort to mineral and vegetable tonics, have found their advocates. Of late 
years the tincture of aconite has been in favor as a febrifuge, and largely used, and 
some have tried Indian hemp and other narcotics. Everything has been tried, without 
much reasoning or careful record of results. The important salient feature in the history 
of pleuropneumonia in England is that all the therapeutic skill of the veterinarian has 
not prevented greater and more general losses than have ever been witnessed in other 
countries, if we may except Holland. 

For some years I have noticed that the earlier lesions of the lung disease partake, in 
their character and results, more of the features of hemorrhage — a prostrating discharge 
from the blood-vessels of a sero-albuminous product — than of inflammation. The con- 
gestion and inflammation are truly secondary, and once developed it is apparently impos- 
sible to control them, though their extent varies greatly. In some animals but a portion 
of one lung is involved, in others one entire organ is afiected, and in others, which cases 
are almost without exception fatal, both lungs become hepatized, and the animal dies 
sooner or later of apnoea or suffocation. 

Notwithstanding the well-founded objection of some distinguished veterinarians to the 
practice of administering mineral astringents as jDreservatives — an objection to wi.ich 
Professor Nicklas gave utterance at the first international veterinary congress held in 
Hamburg in 1863 — it is certain that they far surpass all other means in the treatment of 
the early stages of the lung plague. Professor Nicklas said, with much truth, that where 
pleuropneumonia appeared there were often persons who prescribed the sulphate of iron 
to check the progress of the disease. The isolation of such cattle was not attended to, 
and the malady continued; whereas if the sick had been isolated, or slaughtered, and the 
remaining animals of a herd inoculated, there would have been an end to the outbreak. 

On the other hand, if attention is paid to the segregation of the sick, and those indubi- 
tably free from the disease are inoculated, there is still a number, and often not a small 
number, sure to die within a month or six weeks, simply because inoculated too late. These 
animals, if of great value, and proper facilities are aflforded for treatment without incurring 
the risk of extension of the malady, may often be treated with success. 

Tliermometcr in hand, a good observer and auscultator can detect the invasion of 
this disease some days — and even as long as ten days or a fortnight — before marked symp- 
toms appear. At that stage, the peculiar yellow deposit which first slowly invades the 
interlobular tissue of the lungs is penetrating into the organ, and its extension may, as I 
have noticed frequently, be checked by active internal astringents. The best of these are 
the sesquichloride and the sulphate of iron. But our choice extends further, since vege- 
table infusions or decoctions containing tannin, besides the astringent preparations of lead, 
may likewise retard and arrest the exudation. 

I have on several occasions been called to prescribe for herds iu which I have readily 
traced cases of pleuropneumonia in advanced stages of the disease. I have removed the 



THE LUXG PLAGUE. 39 

marked symptoms, and still a large proportion of the animals Lad the peculiar cough so 
well described by the French commission ; yet, to have neglected means to arrest the disease 
would have resulted in many deaths. Before I was led to approve, as I do strongly, of 
the practice of inoculation, and since, when there have been insuperable obstacles to its 
adoption, I have placed all the herd, sometimes in the stable and at other times in the 
open field, on regular daily doses of sulphate of iron, allowing about half a drachm or 
a drachm to a bullock, mixed with a similar amount of bruised coriander seeds and 
perhaps some bran, the better to disguise the iron. Thus mixed with fresh coriander 
seeds, cattle will leave grass to eat the medicine, and I have uniformly found a mitigation 
of the cough, a disappearance of the malady, and the herds have preserved an admirable 
condition. 

I can confirm Sauberg's statement that it is dangerous to resort to active purgatives, and 
the common symjDtom of constipation, even in the earlier stages of j^leuropneumonia, can be 
better corrected by diet and the administration of a stimulant, such as carbonate of ammo- 
nia, combined with warm water injections, than by any other plan. AVhen the exudation 
in the lung tissue is not checked, and in all cases where it has advanced too far to admit 
of being checked by capillary astringents, it is, as a rule, desirable to leave animals entirely 
to nature. 

The observation of many hundred cases within the past fifteen years has con- 
vinced me that, left entirely to themselves, when the malady has fairly developed, a 
considerable proportion of the cattle affected in one lung recover, whereas nearly all 
those affected on both sides die. The many methods of treatment recommended have 
not seemed to increase the average of recoveries among cases of one-sided pleuro- 
pneumonia. 

It is extremely difficult to ascertain the conditions under which a small or a great 
mortality may be anticipated. This may be gleaned from the observations of the French 
commission. They found some animals which apparently resisted the disease. These 
were doubtless latent cases, as they afterward resisted contagion, If this be admitted, the 
mortality amounted to thirty per cent, of the animals affected, and this mortality is infi- 
nitely less than that observed frequently under circumstances which would appear most 
favorable to the health of cattle and their resistance to disease- 
It has been seen that, as far back as 1769, fumigations were recommended for the 
treatment of pleuropneumonia. Of late years carbolic acid has been strongly recommended 
for this purpose, and may prove beneficial. Its internal administration failed many years 
ago, when, under the name of creosote — for much of our foreign creosote is carbolic 
acid- — it was used especially by a distinguished English veterinarian, Mr. Charles Hunt- 
ing, of Fence Houses, near Durham. The employment of antiseptics comes properly under 
the head of preventive measures, which are considered in a subsec[uent section of this 
report. 

iSTotwithstanding the many authorities in favor of blisters, setons, rowels, and even 
the hot iron, I must assert, from careful observation, that, in the acute stages of the dis- 
ease, they invariably aggravate the malady and sometimes kill. There ai-e instances 
which indicate the contrary, for, when examining cases in Pennsylvania, I was told by a 
farmer that his cattle were dying, and he called in a professional man who blistered 
severely and cured several. They would probably have recovered if left to nature, though 



40 DI^PAirr-MEXT 0I<^ ageicultuee. 

it is possible that in some cases counter-irritants may be useful. The difficulty is to choose 
those cases ; and, as a rule, I am satisfied that any but the mildest stimulants applied to 
the skin irritate and do harm. 

It is highly important that any medicines given to cattle with this disease should be 
given carefully, to avoid choking. Farmers are often very rough in giving drenches to 
cattle. Tliey should go up to the off shoulder of the animal, pass the left hand into the 
angle of the mouth on the left side, draw the head around gently, without unduly eleva- 
ting it, and pour the draught out of a small horn in moderate quantities, giving the animal 
time to swallow. I remember, as far back as 1851, being asked by a Yorkshire veterina- 
rian to prepare a number of draughts, the active agent of which was carbonate of ammonia, 
for a herd of cows affected with the lung disease. The draughts were supplied to the 
farmer, and tlie very first day they were being administered by himself and servants, 
according to order, in gruel, a messenger summoned me to attend an animal which 
was killed by the medicine. Ou arriving at the farm, I perceived, from the animal's 
breathing, tremors, difficulty in standing, anxious expression of countenance, protruding 
and blood-shot eye-balls, that it was choking. I informed the farmer of the fact that the 
drench had been poured the wrong way, and, since he was indignant at the declaration, I 
opened the trachea with my penknife, and, in a fit of coughing, a quantity of gruel, smell- 
ing strongly of ammonia, was forcibly ejected. This alone saved the reputation of the 
medicine and its compounder. 

INOCULATION OF THE LUNG PLAGUE. 

In 1S36 pleuropneumonia was imported from Flanders among cattle fed at the distil- 
lery of Messrs. Willems & Platel, at Hasselt, in Belgium. The town was rich in horned stock, 
and the malady formed one of its fixed stations and continued uninterruptedly from 1836 
to 1852. Dr. Didot'-' ascertained beyond a doubt, by personal inquiries among the Hasselt 
distillers that this was a fact, and that the disease had never been absent from their stables 
durinc these sixteen years. The Belgian government had adopted an imperfect system of 
slauf'hter to stamp out the disease ; but the indemnity was small, and the distillers found 
it more profitable to sell their cattle to butchers ; and the inhabitants of Hasselt, Li^ge, 
Louvain, Tirlemont, Brussels, and Antwerp were supplied with a large amount of diseased 
meat. Dr. Didot learned that, whereas government officials slaughtered one to two per 
cent, of the infected animals, the butchers purchased and disposed of fifteen, twenty, or 
twenty-five animals per week, according to the extent of the outbreaks. In the town of 
Hasselt alone it is computed by the same authority that 16,540 head of sick cattle were 
consumed during the above period. The government paid one-third of the value of 845 
head of cattle during the same period. So late as 1851 M. Maris, one of the government 
veterinarv surgeons at Hasselt, saw 1,300 cases of lung disease in that city alone. 

From 18d0 to 1850-!' the value of the horned stock lost by jsleuropneumonia in Bel- 
criurn amounted to 2,531,409 francs and 30 centimes. The sum paid by the government 
in indemnities amounted to 1,751,777 francs and 40 centimes. The disease continued 

" Dens Jonrs Jl Hasselt. Essai sur I'lnoculation do la Plcuropiieumonie Exsudative des Bfites Bovines. Bruxellcs, 
1853. 

t Rapport ©(-cennnl do 1840 il 1850. E^8um<; statistiqne, page 10. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 



41 



unabated in 1851 and 1852. Every effort had been made by the distillers to arrest the 
disorder — ventilation, fumigation, whitewashing, turning the cattle out for a period, the 
placing of pigs in the stables, under the impression that they might destroy the putrid 
materials supposed to engender the disease, and so on. 

It so happened that the son of the senior member of the first firm of distillers whose 
cattle had been affected in 1836 had devoted himself to medicine. Dr. Willems studied 
the lung disease with discrimination, but even so late as 1850 he had not fully made up 
his mind as to the essentially contagious character of pleuropneumonia. Dieterichs had 
attempted the inoculation of the disease in order to prove its contagious character, and had 
failed. Vix repeated the experiments, and obtained results in the form of pneumonia ; a 
pneumonia, says Dr. Willems,''' due, in all probability, to purulent infection. The French 
commission inoculated cows with the blood, nasal discharge, and excrementitious fluids, in 
order to test the contagious properties of pleuropneumonia. Dr. Willems had, moreover, 
observed that in his father's stables there had been, since 1836, over 500 animals that 
had suffered from pleuropneumonia, a considerable number of which had recovered, and 
remained ever after free from the disease. Yvart, Lafosse, Verheyen, and P6try had made 
similar observations. These facts led Dr. Willems to institute a series of experiments as 
to the possibility of communicating the disease by inoculation, and the extent, if any, of 
the immunity thus secured to cattle. 

Dr. Willems adopted the rational plan of performing expei'iments on animals of dif- 
ferent species. His first series was as follows: 



Date. 


Material inoculated. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation.. 


Result. 








CThii'h 


None. 


Dec. 23, 1850 . . 




None. 












Feb. 10, 1851 




None. 




Intestinal tubercle squeezed in sirup . . 




Thifh 




Juuo 19 1851 


Twelve pea fowls 


Thii'h 


None. 




Do 


Thigh 


None. 




Do 




Tail 


None. 




Do 




Tail 


None. 




Do 




Tail 


None. 




Do 




Tail 


None. 




Do 


Three Belgian pigs 


Tail 


None. 


July IT) 1851 




Tail 


None. 




Do 




Tail 


None. 




Do 




Tail 


None. 




Do 




Tail 

Tail 


None. 




Liquid from the lungs used to inocu- 
late my cattle. 






Feb. 20, 1852.... 


)^ Three Belgian pigs 


Tail 






Thigh 


None. 




Four hens 


Tliich 











Dr. Willems observed that inoculations which were usually accidental in man were 
unattended by ill-eflFects. 

* Jlemoire sur la Pf'ripneuniouio EpizoiUique du Gros Bc'tail, par L. 'WilleiTis, Doctenr en MMicine :\ Hasselt, 19. 
(i 



4'i 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A second series of experiments was performed on cattle. The first group of these 
was as follows : 



Date. 


Material inoculated. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Result. 


Fob. 10, 1851.. 




A small bullock 


Root of tail 

Root of tail 

Root of tail 

Root of tnil 


Slight inflammation. 


Mucus from mouth of sick bullock. . . 
Intestinal tubercle broken up in su- 
gar and water. 
Pulmonary liquid 










A bullock 











The second group of observations is indicated below : 



Date. 


Matori.ll inoculated. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


March 5 1851 






Root of tail. 

With two punctures on the nose. 






Five lean bullocks 







Fifteen days after the inoculation small tumors wore observed at the root of the tail, 
causing this organ to be slightly raised. In one the tumor speedily disappeared; in 
the other the swelling enlarged, became very hard, attained the size of a hen's egg, was 
situated between the anus and the root of the tail, and yielded gradually, without suppu- 
rating, to scarifications and a saline purgative. 

Of the five other bullocks four showed no signs; the fifth, three weeks after the 
inoculation, manifested a swelling of the head on the operated side. Two incisions were 
made, emollients applied, and a purgative administered. Low diet was also prescribed. 
On the 20th of April the whole side of the head was swollen and almost of scirrhous hard- 
ness. Two deep incisions were made without finding pus. In the nose, at the point where 
the inoculation was performed, was a wound of unhealthy aspect from which a sanious pus 
was discharged. The ox grew lean. On the 17th of May a little pus flowed from the two 
incisions made on the 20th of April; afterward much pus flowed from these incisions, as 
well as shreds of areolar tissue and portions of dead skin. The tumor was subsiding. On 
the 22d of May a fluctuating tumor appeared below the jaws, from which much indolent- 
looking pus escaped. From that moment the ox began to thrive, notwithstanding that the 
suppurations continued till the 5th of June. By the 10th of June recovery was complete. 
Dr. Willems despaired for several days of this animal's return to health, and he resolved 
not to inoculate again in the same region. 



THIRD GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 

On the 10th of May Dr. Willems inoculated nine Dutch bullocks and two lean Belgian 
cows. He made two punctures in the tail of each, and used blood expressed from the 
muscles and liquid squeezed out of the lung of a cow suflering under the third stage of 
pleuropneumonia. 

Several bullocks showed the eflFects of inoculation by the 19th of May; two more 
severely than the rest. On the 21st of May there was a decided swelling of the tail in 



THE LUNG FLAG UK. 



43 



six bullocks and one cow. Incisions were made to relieve the parts, emollients applied, 
and purgatives administered. 

On the 26th of May seven out of the nine bullocks and one cow presented consider- 
able tumefaction at the root of the tail; incisions and emollients were resorted to. On 
the 31st of May the swelling of the parts inoculated disappeared, and the animals regained 
their appetite and vivacity. 

Two of the nine bullocks by this time suffered much ; the root of the tail, the tissues 
around the anus, and the nates, were consolidated and enlarged by a deposit. In spite of 
all efforts, the free excision of the material so as to produce an artificial anus, the obstacle 
to defecation was so great, the straining so violent and constant, and the vital powers sunk 
so low, that on the 8th of June they died. Dr. Willems observed that in incising these 
tumors the animals suffered no pain. 

On the 9th of June these animals were dissected. One presented a generally healthy . 
condition of the internal organs. The lesions were localized in the anal region. The muscles 
and other tissues around were of a pale red color, intersj)ersed with degenerated tissue. 
There was no suppuration. The anus and its surroundings for at least twelve inches in di- 
ameter appeared gangrenous. The lungs were of dark color, slightly congested, and pre- 
senting but the slightest trace of marbled hepatization. The gall bladder was found full of 
black dense bile. There was slight serous effusion in the peritoneum, and the mucous lin- 
ing of the intestines presented red or brown punctiform discolorations and some patches 
of red injection. 

In the second bullock the lesions were more extensive. The mortification of tissues 
extended up the rectum a distance of six inches. The peritoneum was inflamed, in some 
parts adherent by its opposing surfaces, and a reddish serosity was effused in its cavity. 
The liver was softened, degenerated, of a light yellowish color. The mucous membrane 
of the tongue and windpipe was of a dark brown color. The lungs were black, flaccid, 
and in the pleural sacks was a citrine-colored serous exudation. In the general disorgan- 
ization of the organs of this animal the most interesting feature was a number of cysts, 
vith delicate walls, distended by a dried homogeneous material similar to that inclosed in 
the intestinal tubercles of animals that die of pleuropneumonia. Some of these little sac- 
cules were in the folds of the peritoneum, but the majority, at least sixty, were in the 
thorax and on the internal surface of the ribs. 



FOURTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Alarmed by the foregoing results. Dr. Willems determined on attempting inoculation 
at the tip of the tail, as follows : 



Date. 


Material used. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


June 19, 1851.. 


Pulmonary exudation from an animal in 
tlie first stage of disease. 


Five lean Belgian bullocks 


Tip of tail. 




Pulmonary exudation from an animal in 
the first stage of disease. 




Tip of tail. 










Pulmonjiry exudation from an animal in 


One calf two months old 


Tip of tail. 




the first stage of disease. 








Pulmon!iry exudation Irom an animal in 
the first stage of disease. 




Tip of tail. 









44 



DKPAUTMENT OF AGKICULTCKE. 



On the 3Qth of June a slight swelling was observed in the parts inoculated, except in 
the cases of one bullock and two calves. The symptoms of inflammation advanced, and 
on the 22d of July the tips of the tails of four bullocks were completely gangrenous and 
det;vched. From that time the animals improved. 



FIFTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Date. 


Material used. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Result. 


Juno 26 1851 


Pulmonary exudation from 
animal in first stage of 


Twelve indigenous bul- 
locks. 


Tip of tail 


Slight swelling on the 26th 
of July, and speedy re- 








disease. 






covery. 






Two heifers 


Tip of tail. 






animal in first stage of 










disease. 









SIXTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS, 



Date. 


JIaterial used. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Jnlv K'., IMTil . . 






Tip of tail. 
Tip of tail. 
Tip of tail. 
Tip of tail. 




Do 






Do 


One Dutch bull 




Do 








' 



On the 24th of July four showed swelling of the tail ; on the 29th all had the enlarge- 
ment, and on the 10th of August Dr. Willems amputated the tail-tips of four. 



SEVENTH GROtrP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Date. 


Material used. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Aug. 18,1851. 


Pulmonary liquid from a bullock in third 
stage of disease. 


Seven lean two-year old bullocks 


Tip of tail. 




Pulmonary liquid fi'om a bullock in third 


One Dutch milch cow 


Tip of tail. 




stage of disease. 








Pulmonary liquid from a bullock in third 


Foxirtcen lean bullocks, from three to 


Tip of tail. 




stage of disease. 


four years old. 






Pulmonary liquid from a bullock in third 
stage of disease. 




Tip of tail. 







On the 9th of September the Dutch cow and two bullocks presented the first symp- 
toms, and the remainder showed signs on the 14th, and afterward recovered. 



EIGHTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Date. 


Material used. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Nov. 10, 1851. 


Pulmonarj- exudation from a bullock in 
the first stage, and kept ten d.ays to 
note if it lost its properties. 




Tip of tail. 







THE LUNG rLAGUE. 



45 



Ten days after the inoculation the first symptoms of specific inflammation appeared, 
and all recovered. 



NINTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Date. 


Material used. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of iuocnlation. 


Jan. 19, 1852 


Pulmonary exudation from cow in third 
stage of the disease. 




Tip of tail. 
TiiJ of tail. 











On the 2d of February the greater part of these animals showed signs of the inocula- 
tion, and afterward recovered. 

One animal on the 3d of February had a swelling in the upper part of the right hind 
limb. The tumor increased, and the animal suffered intensely. Incisions, emollients, and 
purgatives were resorted to as usual. By the 8th of February the swelling had invaded 
nearly the whole of the right hip, pushed the- tail to the left, and the anus was partly oc-. 
eluded so as to cause difficulty in defecation. The animal died on the 10th. Post-mortem 
appearances indicated little else beyond the thickening of the skin and subcutaneous tis- 
sues of the right hip. There was some discoloration of the intestines, flaccid appearance of 
muscles, and dark color of lungs, but no specific appearances in internal organs. 

TENTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Date. 


Material inoculated. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Jan. 30, 1852.. 


Pulmonary exudation in first stage of 
disease. 


Four old, lean, but strong, Dutch bul- 
locks. 


Tip of taU. 



Two presented swelling on the 12th of February, and recovered ; the others showed 
no signs. 

ELEVENTH GROUP OF OBSERVATIONS. 



Date. 


Material inoculated. 


Animals inoculated. 


Seat of inoculation. 


Feb. 26, 1852.. 


Pulmonary exudation from buUook in 

iirst stage. 
Pulmonary exudation from bullock in 

first stage. 
Pulmonary exudation from buUock in 

first stage. 
Pulmonary exudation from bullock in 

first stage. 




Tip of tail. 
Tip of tail. 
Tip of tail. 










One indigenous cow. 



From the 13th to the 20th of March the effects of the inoculations were developed. 
One animal only of the first group lost a little of its tail. 






46 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

Dr. Willems proceeded further. On the 19th of June, 1851, he inocuU^ted several 
cattle with the Hquid expressed from healthy lungs without producing any effect. He 
then inoculated a bullock that had previously had the disease, and witnessed no results ex- 
cept a little enlargement at the seat of the puncture. On the 28th of August, 1861, he 
reinoculated a bullock that had been operated on six or seven months pre^dously, and had 
lost his tail ; and did the same with two small cows. 

On the 19th of January, 1852, he reinoculated three large bullocks, and on the 26th 
of February three other bullocks, the whole of which had been successfully operated on 
before. 

Fifty cattle that had not been inoculated were mixed in a stable with those referred 
to, and with the following result : 

In the month of May, 1851, three bullocks sickened ; on the 22d of June a fourth 
case ; on the 26th a fifth ; on the 26th of July a sixth ; and at different dates up to the 
10th of March, 1852, seventeen of the newly inoculated animals had suffered, and were 
sold for slaughter, whereas the other thirty-three had doubtless a latent form of the malady. 

The conclusions drawn by Dr. Willems were as follows : 

1. Pleuropneumonia is not contagious by inoculation of the blood or other matters 
taken from diseased animals and placed upon healthy ones. 

2. By the method that I employed one hundred and eight beasts were preserved 
from pleuropneumonia, while of fifty beasts placed in the same stables and not inoculated, 
seventeen became diseased, and the disease is now banished from these stables, which had 
never been free from it since 1836. 

3. The inoculation of the disease itself, performed in the manner that I have described, 
whether it may have occasioned apparent morbid manifestations or not, was the measure 
that preserved the animals from pleuropneumonia. 

4. The blood and the serous and frothy liquid sqiieezed from the lungs of a diseased 
animal in the first stage of pleuropneumonia are the most suitable matter for inoculation. 

5. The inoculation of the virus takes from ten days to a month before it manifests 
itself by sensible symptoms. 

6. The matter employed for the inoculation has, in general, no effect upon an animal 
previously inoculated or having had the disease. 

7. The inoculated animal braves the epizootic influences with impunity, and fattens 
better and more rapidly than those in the same atmosphere with it that have not been 
inoculated. 

8. The inoculation should be performed, with prudence and circumspection, upon lean 
animals in preference, and toward the tenth day after the operation a saline purge may be 
given, and repeated if necessary. 

9. By inoculating pleuropneumonia a new disease is produced ; the affection- of the 
lungs, with all its peculiar characters, is localized in some sort on the exterior. 

10. The virus obtained from oxen affected with pleuropneumonia is of a nature entirely 
specific; it does not always act as a virus; the bovine race alone is affected by its inocu- 
lation, while other animals of different races, inoculated in the same manner and with 
the same liquid, experience no ill-effects. 

Dr. Willems accomplished much in his earlier experiments, as will be seen by com- 
paring the knowledge of the present day with the results of liis original investigations. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 47 

One cause contributed to strengthen the hands of his adversaries, and this was his attempt 
to prove that specific and characteristic elements distinguished the virus of pleuro- 
pneumonia. 

Dr. Willems says: 

I have examined various pathological speoimons with the object of studying and elucidating the question of 
inoculation. My investigations h.ave been princiiially directed to diseased lungs, and to a kind of tubercle, hitherto 
overlooked, but which I have, nevertheless, constantly met with upou opening the dead bodies of animals that died 
from pleuropneumonia. These tubercles, scattered throughout the intestines, but principally in the smaller one, are of 
a size varying from the head of a pin to that of a largo pea, of a yellowish or greenish color. They are seated in the 
sub-mucous cellular tissue, and partly in the thickness of the mucous membrane of the intestine. They do not appear 
to have any relation to the glands of Peyer or of Brunuer. Are they hypertrophied follicles ? Nothing appears to 
prove it; no opening is perceived in them. They are formed of a homogeneous, whitisli matter, more or less hard, 
showing under the microscope grauulous kernels and an innun\erable quantity of small elementary corpuscles, which 
enjoy a molecular motion, and which are also met with in diseased lungs. I have examined under the microscope 
parts of the lungs of .auim.als diseased with pneumonia, with a power magnifying four hundred and fifty diameters, 
which is higher than that employed by Professor Gluge in his beautiful anatomico-pathological researches upon pleuro- 
pneumonia. The exuded matter presented no structure. I met with no other anatomical elements than granular 
cells and elementary corpuscles, provided with a jiarticular motion, the whole jiretty much resembling an inflamma- 
tory exudation, remarkable for its great quantity. The plastic exudation is formed in so rapid a manner, and in such 
considerable quantity, that anatomical elements of a superior development to that of these cells could not be produced 
in them ; conseqtiently no cells or globules of pus (I have never found any) or fibers are ever met with there. The 
energy of the cellular tissue appears to exhaust itself upon too large a quantity of exuded matter for the latter to be 
carried to a higher degree of organization. It is the same as is observed sometimes in the regeneration of tissues; in 
the section of nerves, for example, and in the fracture of bones, when the exuded liquid is in too large a quantity, or 
the fragments are too much separated, a part of the liquid, being beyond the circle of action of the energy of existing 
tissues, always remains at an inferior degree of development to that of the neighboring tissues. What is most important 
to be shown here, and of which no one has hitherto spoken, is the existence in diseased lungs of small corpuscles, 
endowed with a molecular motion, which appears sometimes to be made in a given direction. They are like corpuscles 
in process of formation, the motion of which resembles that of the granules of pigment, as well as those which surround 
the corpuscles of the tuberculous matter in man. In all my microscopical researches I have constantly found the same. 

Wishing to know whether these corpuscles exist in any other substances than those already examined, I sub- 
mitted to the microscope — 

1. The saliva of a healthy ox under epizootic influence. 

2. The saliva of a diseased cow toward the third stage of the disease. 

3. The urine of the same cow. 

4. The blood of the same cow. 

5. The blood of a healthy ox under epizootic influence for five months. 

6. The blood of a healthy ox not imder ei)izo6tic influence. 

7. Parts of the liver and of the large right pectoral muscle from a diseased cow. 

In none of these matters did I find the small corpuscles with molecular motion which I have constantly met 
with in the lungs and in the intestinal tubercles of animals aflected with pleuropneumonia. That, then, is the prin- 
cipal seat of the disease. Are these corpuscles primitive or consequent on the disease? This question cannot be 
decided now ; I only wish here to verify their presence in pleuropneumonia. 

I examined with the microscope parts of the skin of an ox that died of inoculation. I there found the same 
microscopical elements and the same chemical characters as in tlie lungs diseased with pneumonia. 

Professor Gluge, one of the members of the Belgian commission appointed to inquire 
into the efficacy of inoculation, reported, on the 10th of July, 1852, as follows: 

It results, from the demonstrations made by Dr. Willems and our own researches — 

1. That epizootic pleuropneumonia has no characteristic anatomical products appreciable by the microscope. 
3. That the inflammatory product is not distuiguished from any other jiroduct of inflammation by auatoniical 
character. 

3. That M. Willems's assertions are not accurate. 

4. That this circumstance, doubtless unfortunate, does not in any way prejudice the practical question, wliich it 
appears to me ought fo be especially examined. 

But Professor Verheyen, who was the president of this commission, continued until 
his death to throw discredit on the preservative efficacy of inoculation, and though he 
based most of his conclusions on hypotheses, he was ready to avail himself of everything 
that presented itself to strengthen his position. 



48 DEPARTMENT OF AGRTCTJLTITRE. 

Three commissions were almost simultaneously at work to ascertain the merits of 
Dr. Willeras's discovery. 

Tlie first in Holland, appointed on the 17th o£ April, 1852, consisted of the director 
and professors of the veterinary school at Utrecht.* 

From the 14th of June, 1852, to the 9th of July following, the commission inoculated 
for fourteen proprietors two hundred and forty-seven head of cattle of various ages and 
condition. In this number there were one hundred and fifty-four milcli cows, six young 
cows that had not yet calved, thirty-two heifers, and fifty-five calves. The phenomena of 
the operation were not manifested at once on all the beasts that were subjected to it. 
The proportions between the inoculation and its consequences are nearly constant in milch 
cows and heifers; they are found to be about as three to two. In calves, on the contrary, 
the proportion is less ; it is as four and a quarter to one. • A great difference was observed 
in the effects on cattle of different proprietors. Thus, out of thirteen milch cows belonging 
to Degroot, four only experienced the consequences, while with the cattle belonging to 
Wynen it was successful in eighteen out of twenty; and yet the matter used for the 
inoculation at these two farms came from the same lung. Other similar variations were 
observed, and were not attributed exclusively by the commission to a greater or less 
predisposition to pleuropneumonia. They thought it a more probable explanation of the 
fact that the disease, raging with greater violence and upon a greater number of beasts in 
one stable than another, existed in germ at the time of inoculation, altho.ugh there were 
no symptoms' to indicate it. Thence it was, then, that with one exception pleuropneu- 
monia caused the greatest losses to the proprietors on whose cattle the inoculation took 
least. The inoculated beasts that the commission had to report on as having been attacked 
by pleuropneumonia were sixteen in number. Although this figure, they say, is pretty 
considerable, it proves in no wise to the disadvantage of the preservative power of the 
inoculation; for it was to be expected that cases of pleuropneumonia, more or less numerous, 
would present themselves among the cattle subjected to the operation, since they had been 
stabled with infected animals, and at the time of performing it there were still several 
affected with the disease. "We cannot omit to state," adds the reporter, "that upon 
none of these animals was the inoculation succeeded by local phenomena.'' The opinion 
of those who thought that pleuropneumonia acquires by inoculation a milder character, 
and terminates more favorably, was not confirmed; the greater number of the animals 
attacked perished. The operation had not the least influence upon the beasts which, at 
the time it was performed, were evidently affected with pleuropneumonia. Several beasts 
that were known for some time to have been affected with pleuropneumonia experienced 
not the least effect from the inoculation. 

The report from which the foregoing has been extracted bears the date of the 21 st 
of September, 1852, and the results are indicated by the annexed table. 

The second report, bearing date of the 28th of December, 1852, and prepared by the 
same commission, furnishes facts recorded in the subjoined table. 

The conclusions drawn from the experiments were summarized as follows : 

1. Although the inoculation of pleuropneumonia is not, in all respects, an inoffensive 
operation — as extensive derangements and even death may result from it — its effects are 
generally confined to the part where it has been applied. 

* Further papers respecting pleuropneumouia in cattle, present'Cd to the British House of Commuus by commauil 
of her Majesty, Dvceniher (i, laia. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 49 

2. In order to prevent, as much as possible, its unfavorable consequences, it is neces- 
sary to use some precaution, both in the selection of the matter for inoculation and in the 
period of its application. The season, the atmospheric circumstances, and the state of nutri- 
tion, exert considerable influence upon the success. The autumn appears, for more than 
one reason, to be the most suitable time. 

3. When an intense action and serious casualties appear locally and in the more dis- 
tant organs, they may be attributed to exterior circumstances and to the individual con- 
stitution. This being the case, casualties cannot always be avoided. 

4. If serious complications appear and affect the essential organs so as to cause the 
reaction of the whole organism, it is as difficult to prevent them and arrest their progress 
as it is to cure pleuropneumonia. 

5. In the violent cases, terminating in death, lesions in the thorax or the lungs have 
never been met ; hitherto they have always been concentrated in the abdominal cavity. 

6. The inoculation produces no unfavorable effects, either upon the constitution or 
the yield of milk, while its action is limited to a local affection. Only in the cases where 
abundant deposits succeed a too intense local action do the animals continue sickly during 
a considerable period of time. 

7. The operation has not had a determined influence on the excitement of oestrum. 
In proportion this has been more frequent on the inoculated than on the uninoculated cows. 
It is, however, to be remarked that No. 25 has not yet been in heat, although the period 
for it has long since passed. 

8. The return of the uterine heats with the two cows ISTos. 5 and 12, probably in con- 
sequence of abortion, can the less be referred to the inoculation, as these two cases are 
isolated and the effects were not observed in Nos. 19, 21, and 23, which were very mark- 
edly subject to sexual excitement. 

9. It cannot be determined with complete certainty whether the premature partu- 
rition of a cow near her time, (No. 10,) as well as the consecutive phenon^eiia observed in 
the mother and the calf, are to be attributed to the inoculation ; it is the same with the 
cow No. 14, which calved before her time. These circumstances are, however, of a nature 
to discourage the inoculation of females in an advanced stage of gestation. 

10. As abortion is frequent in the course of pleuropneumonia, it cannot be passed 
over in silence that this complication has never appeared with the beasts that have suffered 
so seriously from the inoculation as to sink under it. If, therefore, the operation has any 
influence upon gestation, it can be only in the last stage. 

11 The hypothesis already proposed in our first report, that the evolution of pleuro- 
pneumonia after the inoculation ought to be attributed to the existence of the germ of the 
disease before the operation, notwithstanding the absence of every morbid phenomenon, 
acquires a higher degree of probability from our experiments. 

12. The opinion of those who hold that cattle which have had pleuropneumonia and 
have recovered do not contract it a second time, or at least rarely, and that the inoculation 
is performed without success upon these individuals, is again confirmed by No. 16, which 
was inoculated twice, but in vain. 

13. Our experiments furnish the remarkable proof that a power, at least temporary, 
of insuring against the contagion of pleuropneumonia cannot be denied to the inoculation ; 
it remains uncertain, however, to what extent the predisposition to contract tliis disease is 



50 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

destroyed, either entirely or for a limited period. Much time will he necessary, from the 
very nature of the question, before a positive solution of it can be arrived at. 

Verheyen, as president reporter of the Belgian commission, issued a report dated 
Brussels, February 6, 1853. It opened in the following terms : 

In a first report, embracing tlic period from the 24th of May to the 15th of July, 1852, it is stated that the commis- 
sion had inotiihited, either by the operations of its iiienibcrs or under its supervision, one hundred and eiglity-nine 
beasts of the boTine race of all ages and both sexes. Kight herds, numl>ering one hundred and twenty-nine head, in- 
liabited stables in which plenroi)neuuiouia had lately r.aged, or was still raging at the time of the inoculation ; eight 
other herds, composed of sixty beasts, abode in healthy localities, or such as were considered healthy, inasmuch as they 
had never been vi^sited by the disease or had been spai'cd by the scourge for at least eighteen months. 

We made it a)>pear — 

1. That the operation had been followed by effects upon all the cattle inoculated. 

2. Th.-it the matter remained inert upon two cows that we know to have escaped from exudative pleuropneumonia. 

3. Tliat five cows had perished from the consequences of inoculation. 

4. That two Iiad lost tlio whole of their tails. 

5. That six had ]iartially lost them. 

G. That four calves bail bi'en seized with an articular affection. 

7. Tliat, contrary to Mr. Willems's observations, the insertion of the matter in the tails of calves produced a local 
aflection there. 

8. That, finally, at the moment of dispatching that first report, M. Dele informed the commission that a case of 
p]europn<uni(mia had just appeared at th«^ Abbey of La Trappe niiou an inoculated cow. 

Tlie favorable situation certified on the liith of July has been maintaini'd, with but one exception, for the individ" 
uals of those herds which the proprietors still possess. The articular afl'ection observed in firar cows hius not occurred 
again ; therefore, a simple coincidence must be admitted, and this casualty explained independent of inoculation. 

The commission resolved on extending its operations, and this they did by associat- 
ing with themselves all the country veterinary practitioners, in accordance with the 
organization of the civil veterinary service in Belgium, and, secondly, by undertaking a 
series of direct experiments. 

The government on its part did not remain inactive. It organized local commissions 
charged with the supervision of the operations ; the losses occasioned by the inoculation 
were assimilated to those of animals slaughtered on account of public benefit ; it under- 
took to pay the difi'erence between the estimated price and the selling price of the inocu- 
lated beasts which, contracting exudative pleuropneumonia, should be sent by their pro- 
prietors to the shambles, and of which the officers at the latter would make declarations 
to the authorities. 

Further on M. Verheyen says : 

Wishing to free the inoculation from the numerous accessory fiuesfions which th.at practice occasions, the com- 
mission adoi)ted for its experiments, and submitted to the minister of the interior for his .sanction, this simple programme : 

1. To purchase sound beasts; to watch them during a certain time, in order to bo assured of the integrity of their 
pulmonary organs. 

2. To request M. Willems to inoculate them. 

3. Only to admit .as preserved those in which that physician should have recognized the specific inflamm.ation caused 
by a productive inoculation, and which he .should have ju'onouMci'd to bi' in the enjoyment of the immunity. 

4. To have the beasts cohabit with animals al'licted with exudative iileuropueuniouia, at the same time placing 
some inoculated aninnils in ideutical coTiditions. 

A first batch of eight cows and heifers of Ardennes breed, selected in localities free from exudative pleuropneumo- 
nia, arrived at the veterinary school. M. Willems inoculated them on the IGth of August ; on the 11th of September, 
tho.se numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, G, and 8 were cxaniiued by M. Willems, who declared that the inoculation had succeeded in 
those beasts. 

On the same day he inoculated eight other bca.sts purchased by M. Windelincx, on account of the commission, at 
the fair of Tirleuiont. We cannot affirm that they were, lilte the preci'ding, from a locality free from pleuropneumonia ; 
we gained, however, by a rigorous and rejjeated examination, the certainty that the thoracic organs were intact. At 
the same sitting, M. Willems reinocidated the two .Ardennes cows numbered 4 and 7. 

All showing themselves still refractory <m the 2i)lh of t>eptember, M. Willems was apprised of if; the letter was 
unanswered. 

On the inih of October an ox— that niarUcd No. 2 — of the herd that came from Tirlemont, exhibited a swelling at 
the end of the tail. Th.it portion of thi> caudal apiiendage, being seized with dry mortification, was eliminated. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 51 

On the 18th October tliveo momliers of the commission procooiled to :i frosli inoculation. They oi)or:itiMl npon the 
Nos. 1, '3, 4, 5, 7, aud 8, from Tiilemont, ;iud upon the xVrdeuues cow No. 4. 

The No. 7 of the hitter breed and the No. 6 of the former were reserved. 

Two of the Ardennes cows, Nos. 5 and 6, which were snccessfully inoculated, having b een isohitcd in a si able, cohab- 
ited from the 24th of September with puenmonic beasts. When it was certain that the operation had had a ne;;ativo 
result upon the Ard<'nnes cow No. 7, aud after the cicatrization of the jninctiire, the same locality was assigned to it, 
on the 1st of October, for abode. 

The ox No. 2, from Tirlemout, entered there on the 23d of October, and the heifer No. 6 on the25th of the same mouth, 

A third inoculation, performed on the 18th of November upon the beasts from Tirlo mout, Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, aud 8. 
was not more efiicacions than the precediug. 

From the 24th of September, the date of the experiment, there has only occurred a first space of one day, aud a second 
of eight, during which the stable has uot contained pneumonic beasts ; the number of the cattle has varied from one to 
three. Up to this day the three iuoculated beasts, and the two upon which the inoculation was unsuccessful, have 
experienced uo attack from the cohabitation with infected animals. 

Two aged cows, inoculated by M. Willems, at Hassclt, entered the same locality on the 15th of November. 

On the 28th of September, two of the Ardennes luiists, Nos. 3 aud 8, were disiJatched to Tirlemout to be placed in 
infected stables there, by the care aud under the sui)erintendenco of M. Windcliucx. 

A third experiment, intrusted to M. Dele, has been organized at Deurue, iu the province of Antwerp. The superior 
of the Abbey of La Trappe has been pleased to place at the disjiosal of the commission, for this iiurpose, two heifers 
belonging to the community, and which were iuoculated with the least equivocal success on the 27th of May, 1852. 

On the 30th of October, the Ardennes beasts Nos. 1, 2, and 4 were conducted to Huy, where a fourth experiment is 
being carried out under the superintendence of MM. Marcops aud GuiSrin. 

Not one of the animals inocuLited, successfully or unsuccessfully, has contracted exudative pleuroiineumonia. 

While tliese experiments were going on, fifty-four veterinary surgeons, including Dr. 
Willems, inoculated five thousand three hundred and one head of cattle. They con- 
sisted in — 

Beasts fattening 2, 732 

Lean oxen or milch cows ^ 2, 189 

Calves and young cattle • - - • 380 

Total 5,301 

Beasts living in healthy stables 2, 330 

Beasts living in infected stables - 2, 971 

Total... 5,301 

Beasts successfully inoculated 4, 324 

In healthy stables 2, 030 

In infected stables - 2, 294 



Total 



4.324 



Eighty-six, including eleven beasts inoculated in the dewlap, died from the effects 
of the inoculation. 

Seventy-four lost the tail up to the root. 

Three hundred and four lost it in part. 

Seventy-three contracted exudative pleuropneumonia after having been successfully 
inoculated. 

After careful examination, it resulted that fifty-five cases of exudative pleuropneumo- 
nia, well attested, occurred upon beasts inoculated with unequivocal success. The space of 
time which elapsed with these animals between the inoculation and the first appearance 
of the pneumonia symptoms varies from seventeen to one hundred and thirty-six days. 



52 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

After an elaborate analysis of cases in which the inoculation seems to have been 
effectual, of others in which the operation and immunity seemed to be coincidences, and, 
lastly, of those in which it was not preservative, the commission concludes : 

1. That tlio inoculatiou witli the liquid extracted from a hmg hepatized in consequence of exudative idcuropneu- 
luouia is not an alisolute picscrvativ<' a^^ainst that disease. 

2. That the plieiKuueua sueoicdiiii; tlii' iuoculatioii may occur several times upon the same animal, whether it has 
or has not been affected with exudative pleuropueumonia, and that the two affectiims may go on simidtaneously in ono 
and the same individual ; consideralile di-ranginieuts aiqicar at the inoculated part, while the morbid action of the lungs 
progresses toward a fatal termination. 

As to the jioint whether inoculation really possesses a preservative virtue, and, in that case, in what proportion 
and for what duration it maintains the innnunity in the animals that have undergone it, this question can be resolved 
only by ulterior researehes. 

A summary of inoculations performed and results obtained is appended in a tabular 
form at the close of the report. 

We now come to the experiments of the French commission, and it must not be for- 
gotten that, in connection with the subject of the transmission of the lung plague by con- 
tact, this commission had resorted to inoculation independently of any suggestions on the 
part of Dr. Willems. 

The general rc>sum6, ably set forth by Professor Bouley, is regarded up to the present 
day as having done much to diffuse a rational belief in the efficacy of inoculation, and the 
experiments were conducted with great care and skill. 

Experiments were instituted by the commission — 

First. To ascertain whether pleuropneumonia is susceptible of being transmitted to 
healthy animals by the inoculation of blood, saliva, nasal discharge, and excrementitious 
matters from animals affected with the disease. 

Second. Have animals thus inoculated enjoyed any immunity against the contagious 
influence of the lung plague ? 

Third. Is pleuropneumonia capable of being transmitted, in all its forms and char- 
acteristic symptoms, to healthy cattle by the inoculation of the liquid extracted from the 
lungs of a sick animal ? 

Fourth. In the case where inoculation of this liquid does not determine on healthy 
animals an exact repetition of the form and symptoms of the original disease, what are 
the local or general phenomena which result ? In what proportion and to what extent do 
these characters, more or less severe, transmit themselves ? How many animals die after 
inoculation? How many recover their health after having been subjected to this test, 
and under what conditions ? 

Fifth. Do the animals subjected to this proof of inoculation with pulmonary liquid 
acquire the power of resisting the contagion of pleuropneumonia? 

The experiments made to solve the question whether pleuropneumonia is contagious 
by the inoculation of the blood, saliva, nasal mucus, etc., having been performed only on 
six animals, the commission has not deemed them sufficient in number to form the basis of 
any conclusion. Nevertheless, it was thought right to mention that the two cows inocu- 
lated with the nasal discharge, and subjected to the proof of contagion by cohabitation, 
have not been affected with pleuropneumonia. 

Experiments by inoculating the liquid from the lungs of sick cattle have been per- 
formed on fifty-four healthy animals, and under conditions which indicated that these ani- 
mals had never previously contracted the disease. Of these fifty-four subjects inoculated 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 53 

none have shown symptoms of pleuropneumonia as the result of inoculation. On twenty- 
three the effects of inoculation have only been indicated by a slight local and well-circum- 
scribed inflammation. On twenty-one the inflammation has been very severe, very exten- 
sive, and complicated by gangrenous phenomena which have led to the death of six subjects. 
Therefore the number of animals in which inoculation has been benignant has amounted 
to 61.11 per cent.; the proportion of those having gangrene after the operation, which 
resulted in the loss of a portion of the tail, was 27.77 per cent. ; lastly, the deaths attained 
11.11 per cent. Thus 88.88 per cent, of the inoculated animals recovered, and 11.11 per 
cent. died. 

Of the forty-eight subjects which came out of the inoculation safe and healthy, two 
died of accidents not induced by the operation, and thirty-four were exposed for a period 
of five or six months to the direct influence of contagion by cohabitation with twenty-four 
subjects that had not been inoculated, and which served as a means of comparison. 

Twelve inoculated animals which had been placed in separate stables to serve for 
ulterior experiments were not exposed to the direct contact of such cattle, but were looked 
after by the same person who had charge of the sick animals. 

Only one of the forty-six animals inoculated, viz., about two per cent., became affected 
with pleuropneumonia, whereas of the twenty-four non-inoculated animals fourteen, or 
fifty-eight per cent., suffered. 

From these experiments the commission concludes — 

1. The inoculation of the liquid extracted from the lungs of an animal affected with 
pleuropneumonia does not transmit to healthy animals of the same species the same disease — 
at all events, so far as its seat is concerned. 

2. The appreciable phenomena which follow the inoculation are those of a local inflam- 
mation, which is circumscribed and slight, on a certain number of the animals inoculated; 
extensive and diffuse, with general reaction proportioned to the local disease, and compli- 
cated by gangrenous accidents, on another number of the inoculated animals, so that even 
death may result. 

3. The inoculation of the liquid from the lungs of an animal affected with pleuropneu- 
monia exerts a preservative influence, and invests the economy of the larger number of 
animals subjected to its influence with an immunity which protects them from the conta- 
gion of this malady during a period which has yet to be determined, but which the experi- 
ments quoted indicate, at all events, not to be less than six months. 

Although, from the experiments of the commission, the losses per cent, among the 
animals inoculated were greater than the losses by the disease communicated by cohabita- 
tion, they ascribed this partly to the imperfect means adopted in inoculating, and they do 
not overlook the great deterioration of the animals which did not die after suffering from 
the natural disorder. They recommended further trials, and that the practice should be 
encouraged. 

A mixed commission of the Central Society of ]\Iedicine and the Agricultural Committee 
of Lille instituted experiments on one thousand two hundred and forty-five animals, to de- 
termine the comparative effects of inoculation of the pulmonary liquid of pleuropneumonia 
and of septic matters. The inoculations with virus amounted to one thousand two hundred 
and sixteen ; of these nine hundred and seventy-eight succeeded, and two hundred and 
thirty-eight showed no visible effects. One hundred and seventy-nine animals, or 14.72 



54 DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

per cent., lost a part of the tail ; seventeen, or 1.39 per cent., died ; lastly, twenty-nino 
animals, or 2.38 per cent., were seized with pleuropneumonia, and of these eight succumbed. 
Twenty-nine head of cattle were inoculated with decomposing matter, and only two with- 
out local eflPect resulting. Ten lost a portion of the tail, viz., 34 per cent. Of these ani- 
mals three caught pleuropneumonia, and one of these died. The Lille committee regarded 
the process and results of inoculation as involved in doubts and uncertainties. 

In England attention was directed to inoculation by consuls from abroad, and Pro- 
fessors Simonds and Morton were commissioned to proceed to Belgium to investigate the 
matter, and then to institute experiments at home. The result obtained, after much too 
limited observation, was pronounced against the practice. This sufficed to prevent the 
continuance of the operation among veterinarians, and the London cow-feeders alone 
resorted to the plan in a partial and very imperfect manner. 

I witnessed many bad results in 1854 and 1855, and a case which came under my 
observation on the 4th of May, 1856, in which putrid matter that had been kept in an ink- 
bottle for a long time was used, led me to pronounce a somewhat cautious but adverse 
opinion in the Highland Society's transactions for that year. 

My efforts were afterward directed to an exposure of the evils of indiscriminate sale 
of healthy and sick cattle in public markets, and I insisted on the slaughter and isolation of 
sick and infected animals. The little support I received at home led me, in 1863, to call 
together the first international veterinary congress, which was held in Hamburg, and there I 
met veterinarians from all parts of Europe who had steadily persevered in the practice of 
inoculation, and could furnish me with reliable data. It is impossible, and, indeed, it would 
be superfluous, to give a detailed account of the thousands and tens of thousands of 
cases which have led to the almost universal opinion that inoculation is the best means in 
the majority of instances to check the ravages of pleuropneumonia. The observations 
have been made in all countries where pleuropneumonia has appeared, though opposition 
to the practice is scarcely overcome to the extent that is desirable. 

The efforts of Professor Verheyen in Belgium, and his many attacks on Dr. Willems's 
method, approved as they have been by some in that country, only illustrate once more 
the adage that a man is not a prophet in his own country. But Professor Thiervene, who 
was one of the original Belgian commissioners, and at first among the decided skeptics, 
delivered an address before the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels, in 1866, in reply 
to one by M. Boens, who had attacked the practice of inoculation, in which he vindicates 
Dr. Willems's position. He indorses Professor Saint Cyr's remarks on the demonstration 
of a preservative influence by the most accurate and extensive experiments, and shows 
that of the well-informed in Belgium, who are acquainted with the character of the con- 
tagious pleuropneumonia, none now doubt that inoculation is a safe and certain pre- 
ventive. 

Medical men, no less than veterinarians, have a duty to perform in relation to this 
subject. Boards of health in cities and country districts should take up the subject in con- 
nection with the sale of the meat and milk of animals affected with pleuropneumonia. His- 
tory shows that in those countries, such as England, where the sale of the produce of these 
animals has been most unrestricted, the traffic in such cattle has been so great as to cause 
the most severe losses by the disease, and without intermission. 

An objection to inoculation, which weighs in the case of human and ovine small-pox 
as well as rinderpest, is that the inoculated disease is contagious, that the cohabitation of 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 55 

liealtliy witli inoculated animals may lead to extensions of the infection, and that 
the foci whence the disease spreads are always on the increase. Such objections can- 
not weigh against the inoculation for the lung plague, as the inoculated malady is not com- 
municated except by reinoculation. My observations on this point are very numerous, and 
I do not know of a single instance recorded, during the seventeen years that inoculation 
has been extensively practiced, in which contagion from inoculated animals has been 
witnessed. 

Another objection which has led, of late years, to the practice being checked among 
the cow-feeders of Brooklyn, is the sloughing of the tail and the animals splashing blood 
and matter from their sore tails into the milk-cans. All this arises from the operation 
being performed by persons who know nothing of the precautions to be used, and especially 
of the proper selection and preservation of the virus. Accidents will happen; but out of 
nearly two thousand inoculations I have had a loss of less than one per cent, by death, and 
under five per cent, of the tails have lost their tips. This includes my earlier trials, and 
the results would be more favorable if I excluded them from my calculations. 

PRECAUTIONS. 

The prevention of pleuropneumonia by inoculation demands, therefore, special atten- 
tion, first, to the condition of herds operated on; second, selection of proper virus; third, 
the preservation of that virus from decomposition ; fourth, the proper performance of the 
operation. 

First. As to the condition of stock, it may be said that at any season and under any 
system of management, whether cattle are being grazed, stall-fed, used for breeding pur- 
poses, or fattening for the butcher's stall, inoculation may be resorted to. It should be 
practiced as soon as there is reason to believe a herd has been in danger of infection or 
actually infected. The first case of well-marked lung plague on a farm or in a dairy shed 
should be the starting point for careful isolation, and the inoculation of all apparently 
healthy animals. The disease rarely manifests all its virulence until the third month after 
the introduction of a sick animal among a lot of cattle, but the longer the inoculation is 
delayed the more likely is it that the operation will be performed on animals during the 
stage of invasion of the natural disease, and the result is a loss which is sometimes ascribed 
to the inefScacy of the preventive. In cities where the lung plague has been rife for any 
length of time, and it is necessary to make frequent purchases, although a great deal in 
the way of prevention may be effected by judicious purchases of animals in healthy dis- 
tricts, it is best to resort regularly to inoculation. Dairymen should strive to buy more 
cows at a time, and at regular intervals, instead of picking up a chance bargain or making 
it a rule to go to the market weekly, as has been the custom in both England and 
America. It matters not if the cow is about to calve or has just calved; nothing should 
induce the dairyman or the farmer in an infected district to run a risk. It is desirable tn 
keep animals clean and well littered on straw or sawdust, to prevent the tails that have 
been operated on from coming in contact with excrement and urine, which may poison 
the wound with decomposing matter. 

Second. The selection of proper virus should be intrusted to veterinarians, who 
can detect the various stages of the disease. It is during the first stage of a 
mild case that the interlobular tissue of the lung is found distended with a yellow 



56 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 

gelatinous serum, which is fluid so long as the lungs are hot, and is not readily contami- 
nated by other inflammatory products and blood. When a large portion of lung has been 
80 far consolidated as to present an almost uniform dark red or purplish color, it should be 
discarded, and especially in cases where a piece of the organ has become gangrenous and 
detached, or where liquid in the cavity, of the chest and around the lungs is decidedly 
fetid. Microscopic examination will indicate, by the presence of movable rods and float- 
ing molecules, the putrefactive changes, and that should cause us to discard any such 
source of virus. A clear pleural fluid is often very useful for preservation, but perhaps 
greater reliance is to be placed on the exudation of a piece of lung in the first stage of 
the malady. The lung is placed on a tolerably wide strainer, or bits of wood, over a clean 
stoneware, glass, or porcelain dish or bowl ; it is cut in various directions, and a stout piece 
of cloth or flannel is placed over the whole to confine the heat and prevent dust falling on 
the lung or liquid. It is better to place the dish or bowl over a warm water or sand bath 
at 100°, so as to prevent gelatinization. In a short time, according to the condition and 
quantity of lung, a sufficient quantity of clear yellow-colored liquid is obtained. Some- 
times blood accidentally tinges the material, and this is not necessarily a disadvantage. 

The old plan of keeping pieces of lung to inoculate with, and bottling up anything 
and everything to secure a fetid compound, to be kept for months, must be regarded 
as the most certain means to insure accidents as the results of inoculation. 

Third. The preservation of the virus for periodic inoculations has certainly been a 
desideratum. Had farmers and dairymen had the facilities for procuring material which 
could be used with safety in their stock, they would long since have tried a method that, 
even when badly followed, is beneficial to them. Dr. Sticker, of Cologne, has preserved 
the virus in hermetically-closed tubes containing from one to two drachms. One of these 
tubes is emptied into a small glass, and one to two parts of rain water added. This is not 
desirable. A plan has occurred to me of utilizing the tubes referred to in the report of 
Drs. Billings and Curtis, which I am sure will meet the requirements of the case. Tubes 
about four inches in length, three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and tapering at either 
end, are sealed at one end in a blow-pipe flame, and then heated throughout their length 
to redness. The operation is concluded by closing the other end in the same way. The 
air in the tube is rarefied, all germs of decay destroyed, and there is no difficulty in further 
manipulations. When a proper quantity of liquid is obtained one point of the tube is 
passed into it, the tip broken oft', and the virus is sucked in to fill the vacuum. A spirit 
lamp is held near the liquid, and the point of the tube transfeiTed from this to the flame. 
By the aid of a blow-pipe the sealing is effected, and thus protected the virus will keep 
for months. The test for discarding tubes thus prepared is a microscopical one, and con- 
sists in the detection of bacteria or evidences of putrefaction in the liquid. 

Fourth. The inoculation of cattle is most safely practiced on the tip of the tail. All 
parts that are loose, and from which any extensive exudation may spread over the con- 
nective tissue beneath the skin, must be avoided. The lips, dewlap, and root of the tail 
have proved dangerous localities. When the operation is properly and delicately per- 
formed the tip of the ear is said to be safe, but, on the whole, the end of the tail is found, 
after long experience, to be the best. 

Dairymen have frequently resorted to the plan of making an incision of an inch or 
two in length, inserting in the part a piece of lung, and bandaging ; swelling, inflamma- 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 57 

tion, sloughing of the tail, and secondary deposits in the lymphatic glands and other parts 
of the organs, have frequently resulted from this rude practice. 

Dr. Willems first described his mode of inoculation as follows: "I take the liquid 
pressed from an animal recently slaughtered, or of one that has died of the disease ; I 
plunge into it a kind of large lancet ; then I make two or three punctures at the lower 
extremity of the tail of the animal that I wish to preserve from the disease ; a single drop 
of the liquid is sufficient to make the inoculation." 

At one time Dr. Willems adopted the plan of making two punctures, one on the upper 
part and the other on the lower surface of the tip of the tail_, and both about the same dis- 
tance from the extreme end of the organ. He found that this frequently led to a fusion 
of the exudation commencing around each puncture, and the result was the sloughing of 
the tail. He therefore resorted to the punctures disposed vertically in a line with the tail, 
and about three inches from each other. By this means the exudations commencing at 
the two spots had no tendency to coalesce and lead to untoward results. 

Various instruments have been suggested for the operation. Dr. Sticker devised a 
hollow stylet, with a sharp, diamond- shaped point. The stylet is armed with a little 
india-rubber tube, and this passed into a wooden handle, with a spring, whereby the flex- 
ible tube may be squeezed for the expulsion of air, and by placing the point of the instru- 
ment in the prepared liquid, sufficient is sucked in for an inoculation. I have used this 
instrument as follows : 

The end of the tail being firmly held in the left hand, the point of the instrument is 
plunged with the right hand superficially into the skin of the tip of the tail, and directed 
from before backwards, so that any effort to withdraw the tail would only hasten the op- 
eration. I can testify from practice to the simplicity and efficacy of Dr. Sticker's instru- 
ment as used by me. I have preferred this plan of operating to Dr. Sticker's method, 
which consists in charging his instrument, holding the tail firmly, and then pushing the 
stylet about one inch forward into the tail, and by a simultaneous pressure upon the key, 
and a slight winding motion, the virus is deposited beneath the skin and in the sub- 
stance of the organ. Dr. Sticker proposed making a channel with the instrument — a 
channel downward, from which exudation might flow ; but this is of no avail if septic 
matter is used, and untoward symptoms result. The result of Dr. Sticker's operation, 
according to his descriptipn, is a local swelling occurring about the eighth or ninth day, 
and which increases the tail from three to four lines in diameter, and extends over a length 
of one and a half to two inches ; incisions have not been necessary after the operation, and 
the tails have not mortified. The inoculated cattle do not lose their appetites, and the 
flow of milk is not diminished. Dr. Sticker considers it important that the virus should 
be deposited in the connective tissue beneath the skin and not deep in the muscles of 
the tail. 

With the tubes proposed to preserve the liquid a very simple plan consists in using 
a small bistoury or 'lancet, scarifying the upper surface of the tail an inch or so from the 
end, and from this part the hair may be clipped with a pair of scissors ; the scarification 
must be superficial, and blood should not be drawn if possible ; the tube is taken and both 
ends broken off; a little rubber ball or tube is fixed onto one end, and, by pressing this, a 
few drops of the liquid are dropped in the scarification. This is the safest method, as there is 
no doutjt of the virus being appHed to an absorbent surface, and the method of collection 



58 DEPAETMEXT OF AGKICULTURE. 

afibrds a guarantee of its purity; the tubes are thus kept hermetically sealed till needed, 
and, from the way they are used, there is no loss of material. 

The results of successful inoculation are somewhat various ; by some methods the 
swelling is considerable and many tails slough. It is not a little remarkable that cows do 
not often fail to enjoy immunity from the disease after sloughing of the organ ; it might, 
a priori, have been supposed that the acute inflammation and gangrene would have pre- 
vented the specific action of the virus on the system, and there is reason to believe that 
occasionally this does occur, as I have seen more than one case of pleuropneumonia in cows 
that had lost their tail jifter inoculation. 

Under favorable circumstances a slight heat and tumefaction occur around the punc- 
ture, at a period varying from a week to even sixty days. Commonly from the ninth to 
the fifteenth day .the local eruption is visible, and, if at all marked, is attended with a little 
fever ; a slight shiver, restlessness and some loss of appetite, slightly checked secretion of 
milk, and constipation may be noticed. I have repeatedly inoculated all the cows in a 
dairy, and the owner has not sustained the slightest loss or inconvenience from cows fail- 
ing in their milk ; indeed, this is the rule. 

No pustule, no suppuration, forms ; untoward results consist in the excessive local 
swelling, or, if putrid matter has been used, in secondary deposits at the root of the tail, 
around the anus and other parts. One of the most remarkable cases I ever witnessed was 
one in which, on the seventeenth day, after a carefully performed inoculation, both fore 
legs and brisket swelled up enormously, and the animal suffered intensely from fever and 
died on the fourth day. 

As a rule, no after-treatment is necessary, the results being so slight that they even 
escape observation altogether. But, when excessive swellings occur, it is best to use cold 
applications, and nothing is better than a steady stream of cold water on the part at short 
intervals. Incisions are not always desirable, but, where it is deemed advisable to relieve 
great tension, they must be deep and free ; the resulting wound must be washed with a 
solution of sesquichloride of iron or chloride of zinc of the strength of four grains to the 
ounce of water. ' When the animal has much fever and is costive, a saline purge, such as 
a pound of Epsom salts, affords relief. 

JOAN GAMGEE, M. D. 

Hon IIoE.\CE Caprox, 

Conimi&sioner of Agriculture. 




A.lli>rai&('o.<:hromolilli. n.illiiiioo 



EXTERNAL SURFACE OF LUNG 
showing the effusion on the pleural Surface-in pleuro-pneumonia, 




,\ i!.M ii„ I \i trromolith. Baltimore 



^^ss^i^'mmiBKKK 



PORTION OF LUNG 
showing rhe appearance in the Pleuro-^pneumonia of Cattle 




.A-Hoen& Co chromolith Baltimore 



PORTION OF LUNO 
From a Cow dead of Pleuro-pneumon ia 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 



59 



Appendix No. 1. 

Statement of losses hy lung plague in cattle in the District of Columbia and vicinity, collected for Pro- 
fessor Gamgec by Mr. George Reid, Ingleside farm, Washington. I). C. 



Number. 


Is 

Cm 
O 

1 


s i 

i i 

ffl ''5 

a o 

so -^ 

^ i 
1 


6 


1 


1 


5 
5 
30 
18 
30 
30 
22 
40 
16 
12 
16 
12 
22 
20 
12 
16 
25 
2 
5 

4 
25 
40 
35 
14 
10 


1 

2 
21 

7 
15 
10 
41 

2 


1 




2 


2 


3 


4 






5 


15 




6 


11 


7 


8 




9 






10 








11 








12 


1 
17 


1 
5 
5 
2 




13 




14 




15 


10 

8 


2 


IG 




17 






18 








19 








20 


4 


4 




21 




22 


28 






23 






24 


25 
6 






25 


6 
















Total 


471 


198 


39 


17 







60 



DKI'AKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



K 




•p 


<S 


g 




a 

•A 


■^ 


X 






» 










X 


rri 


B 


"^ 






H 


H 


fe 




a, 


>J 


a 






a 


rr, 


M 


s 



- 5 



'fe^ 



•UOI}U[U30U! JO 

9an3nl)09(io3 iii paip j-cq} sinraum jo -ojj 



2 ill 



c a; cd ki 



•sjCbp jo jaqtnn^ 



•noijupiaoni wyu cinoiu 
■nondojiinid qjiA^ p3!ioajgB siBininB jo -o^ 



qaiijAi aodii 38oi[j JO -o^ 



qoiqii nodn 9S0TI} jo 'o^ 



S. S 



I S a g 

l^ la 

♦5 S £ B 

I I ,^5^ 



T-H ©} rH (O CO h* CI 
l-H IH O Tf> Ui (N 



CO i>. IJ^ »H i-H CC »ft 



"^ >^ <! »^ < -^ ,S 



-*a ^H -»J O .-» 



^ l> ,-1 ^ 



^ T-1 t^ 1-H CD 



•pgHBinoonj 



•X)3A.I3a(lO a.I9Ai 8133JJ9 

H3ir[AV undn 3soti} jo 'o^vi 



•pa^BiHOoni I 



•p9A,198q0 9J9.W. S}33J(}3 

ijoiqAV tiodn 9Soqi jo -o^j 



•p9Aa98q0 9I9.tt 8}3aj(3 

qaiqM. nodn 98om jo -oj^ 



•noi^'Binooni 9q^ jo 9;i!(i 



■5. ^ 
a ^ 

c3 ■» 

2 o 



CO rt 1-1 



rH CO ■-< O i-( •* 



ri « -^ 



CO CO T-t O f-t 



<» (N CO 



a c i» a a a 
a 3 a a 3 3 

i-j i-s 1-0 ►-J 1-0 t-s 



a" fc. ^ 



J3 M ; o ' 

a a o t; § 

Oh i^ t* 00 



I 2 






THE LUNG PLAGUE. 



G] 



.2 i 

'3 ti 

!1 


o 

13 

o 




S S 

^ % 
8 p^ 

ll 


a 

n 










'"T""' ; ; 


- 


CO 


o 


^ 








CO Ci o 






uO t. 








CO 

= -a 






-* SI? 

>f >^ >f 

►^ ^o »^ 








0* 






CO 


CO 


> 

c 

.a 


CO 












16tb day. 

9tliday.. 
16th day - 

16tb day . 

15tbday. 
3d day. . . 






t, » ^ — 1 -!• to 


H 


0> CO w 


1^ 


w (N 




o» -"r 


" 


in C5 


w in 00 


t§ 


^ 


to 


« t 


53 


- 


t- 


(N t» 


?:' 
















CO 
















to 


in _^ -^ 


^ 


CO 


g 


"^ S 


f 


■^ 


s 


June 30 

June 30 
July 9 

July 9 

July 1 
July 2 






'i 




! 1 

; i> 

i I 
t 1 J 
5 - 


) 
C 




> 

c 

i> 


c 

- t 

X 
? 

> 




i 





62 



DErAETMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



2 W 






-S 

■k. 





1 

a 




S 
1^ 












Died Aug. 13; proba- 
bly calved a week 
before time. 








•uoiiBiuaout 
9q;.iayB Biuouinond 
-ojuapl Xq x)a>pB4iy 




























■uo!JB|U9ouiaq} JO 
aangubasnoa ui paig 


















"-^ 








>> 

> 
o 


•I'T^ JO 8801 nJiAi. 




- 






















■im aq» 
JO sso[ ^uoqHAY 


'-' 




rH ,-1 rt .^ 




Aug. 30 

Oct. 15 

Oct. C 

Sept. 30 

Sept. 12 

Sept. 1 

Sept.. 20 
Sept. 20 


Sept. 27 

Aug. 22 
Aug. 22 

Aug. 22 


a 
1 


i 
1 






















None . . 
None .. 

None . . 


« 






















Oct. 14 
Oct. 14 

Oct. 14 


■s;39j 
-JO aqj JO ,{}iKua4ui 


r 

c 


.2 
3 

1 "i 

6 s 




1 


1 
1 




j 
^ 


Considerable . 

Slight 

Slight 

Slight 


•S^99J 

-J3 ?sjg 9q; JO 91«a 


Aug. 6 

Aug. 6 

Aug. 11 

Aug. 10 

Aug. 10 

Aug. 8 

Aug. 10 
Aug. 10 

Aug. 12 

Aug. 10 

Aug. 10 
Aug. 10 

Aug. 10 


•uo!}B[n30U! JO 3;cq 


Aug. 2 

Aug. 2 

Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 
Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 
Aug. 4 

Aug. 4 


•SniAXBO JO 9XB(I 












IS 






to 
bo 
■5 


S ; 




■Snu3Aoa JO ajBQ; 


July 2 

Sept. 28 

June 24 

Aug. 22 

Aug. 18 
Nov. 4 


to .^ 




July 21 
July 1 
Aug. 7 
Dec. 14 
Apr. 19 




•aSy 






to '5 
a |. ^ 




4 


_c 


-- 


4 






c 


^ 


c 


^ 


Description of 
animals. 


~ 


Black and white, 

(white face.) 
Dun and white, 

(white face.) 
Black and white, 

(white face.) 
Black and white, 

(white face.) 
Red and white, 

(white face.) 
Black and white - 
Black and white, 

(white face.) 
Whitish hfijid 


Black and white, 
(staronforeh'd.) 
Black and white . 
Spotted white, 
(white face.) 

AATiitc 




•jaqniTi^ 




!?» 


n 


^ 


in 


<o 


1-. 


00 


Ol 


o 


S 


£ 


n 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 



63 



>> +^ "-5 



gi 3 



I I 





^ 




ira 


to 


O 


O 


to 


00 


00 


























it 


ti 


!»i 


§ 


>, 


^. 


>s 


>i 


a 


a 




B 























<1 


<) 


i-s 


1-5 


1-5 


1-5 


^ 


t-5 




►^ 





n ^ M -a- 

OJ T-i c» -H 

J& ^ ^ a 

^ 1-5 ■'^ *^ 



O .M 



t2 



^ S S ^ ^ S 



■? '-^ ■? -^ n .5 

" -s -^ I "^ 
S a -^ -^ f :S 



t>. CO a> 



^ c3 a b 
S a I a g I 

S ., M ^ I s ^ 



S S "" n 



la ^ la 



c; --> :s (^^ s ^ 



OJ 



« 



llErORT OF DR. J. J. AVOODWARD, U. S. A., 

ON 

THE PATHOLOCaOAL ANATOMY AND HISTOLOGY OF THE RESPIRATORY 
ORGANS IN THE PLEUROPNEUMONIA OF CATTLE. 



War DErARTMENT, Surgeon General's Office, 

Washington, June 16, 1870. 
Sir : I have (lie liouor to trunsmit herewith a report on the Pathological Anatomy 
and Histology of the Respiratory Organs in the Pleuropneumonia of Cattle, prepared, in 
accordance with your request, by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Woodward, Assistant 
Surgeon United States Army. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. K. BAKNES, 

Surgeon General. 
Hon. Horace Capron, 

Commissioner of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



Army Medical Museum, 

Washington, D. C, June 15, 1870. 

General: louring the summer of 1869 the lungs of several cows, dead of epidemic 
pleuropneumonia, were brought to the Army Medical Museum by Professor John Gamgee, 
then engaged in preparing a report for the Commissioner of Agriculture on certain of the 
diseases of the cattle of the United States; and, in accordance with the wishes of the 
Commissioner, I undertook the histological investigation of the specimens. I examined 
them in the fresh condition, and superintended the preparation of a number of permanently 
mounted sections for microscopical examination, which are now preserved at the museum. 
(Microscopical Section, Nos. 2781 to 2819, inclusive.) These sections were made, under 
my direction, by Dr. E. Schaefi'er, one of my assistants, and have served, in connection 
with the observations I made on the fresh specimens at the time of their arrival, as the 
basis of the following paper. 

My attention was first drawn to the pleuropneumonia of cattle in the fall of 1860, 
by Dr. J. Newton Evans, of Hatboro', Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. This gentle- 
man kindly placed at my disposal the lungs of several cattle dead of the disease during 
an epidemic which prevailed near Hatboro' at the time. I have since had various oppor- 
tunities of examining the thoracic viscera in this complaint, and during the year 1869, 
besides the specimens furnished by Professor Gamgee dissected at the museum, the body 
of a tame deer (Cerviw virginianus) which had died suddenly of the same disorder, and in 



THE LUNG TLACUrO. 65 

wliioli the pathological lesions were essentially similar to those which I liad observed in 
cattle. 

Tlie appearances presented to the naked eye in all the cases which I had occasion to 
study agreed quite well with the excellent account given by Professor P. Weber, of Kiel, 
in 1854.* I did not, however, have any opportunity of observing the separation and 
encapsuling of isolated lung lobules described by that writer as occurring in chronic cases. 
The general aspect of the lesions may be described as follows : 

The pleural cavity of the affected side contained a variable cjuantity of clear, 
opalescent, turbid, or even grumous, yellowish serum, and the parietal as well as the 
pulmonary pleura was plastered over, to a variable extent, with masses of opaque whitish 
yellow, or greenish yellow, fatty-looking lymph, flakes of which frequently floated in the 
serum. Not unfrequently both sides were similarly affected. In some cases the pericar- 
dium contained serum of the same character, with adherent lymph coating its inner 
surface and covering the heart. The adipose tissue about the pericardium often exhibited 
a peculiar transformation, which caused its appearance to the naked eye to approximate 
closely to that of the adjacent lymph masses 

A section of the lung most generally showed its apex nearly healthy ; further down 
the parenchyma was congested and (Edematous; still lower the connective tissue septa 
between the lung lobules were progressively thickened, until finally they were converted 
into whitish, yellowish, or greenish opaque layers, which in sections of the organ appeared 
to map out the congested and oedematous lung tissue into angular territories, readily 
recognized as lung lobules. Still further toward the diaphragm the lung parenchyma 
between the opaque yellowish septa exhibited various degrees of red hepatization, while 
in the most inferior portions of the organ the lung tissue, having passed into the stage of 
gray hepatization, could not readily be distinguished by the naked eye from the tissue of 
the diseased interlobular septa, and the surface of these portions of the section appeared 
of a mottled reddish yellow or yellowish gray hue. 

An examination of the pleural surface, after sections of the lung were made, 
showed, as a rule, that the adherent lymph masses on the 'pleura pulmonalis corresponded 
chiefly to those portions of the lung which were more or less completely hepatized. 

Very great variation in the extent of the disease was noted in different cases. Some- 
times one lung only was affected, sometimes both. Some animals died before any portion 
of the lung had passed into the stage of gray hepatization; others survived till abscess 
formation, or even gangrene of portions of the lung tissue supervened. Sometimes at 
least one of the lungs was hepatized, more or less completely, throughout its whole extent, 
but generally the upper lobes were nearly healthy, or at most had not progressed beyond 
the stage of congestion or oedema. When sections of the diseased lung were laid on a 
suitable perforated plate considerable quantities of bloody serum drained from them. 

The peculiar appearance produced by the yellowish thickening of the interlobular 
septa, combined with oedema and congestion, or red hepatization of the parenchyma of 
the lobules involved, was seldom absent from some portion of the affected lung. This is 
the phenomenon most likely to arrest the attention of observers familiar with the post 
mortem appearances of pleuropneumonia in the human subject, when their attention is 



' Die interlohuliire Pneumonie. Viichow's Archiv., Bd. vi, S. 89. 



Q() DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE, 

for the first time directed to the disease in cattle. It is conditioned by the pecuhar 
anatomical arrangement of the lungs of these animals, in which the lobules are separated 
from eacli other, by processes of the pleura or by septa of loose connective tissue, to an 
extent which has no parallel in the human subject. The inflammation of the pleura 
speedily extends to these loose interlobular septa, in which a rapid lymph formation takes 
place, resulting in the production of the thick yellowish layer.s above described. Very 
often these thickened septa are softened in their central portions, where they frequently 
present irregular cavities containing a turbid serum or a puriform fluid, while the lymph 
next the surfaces of the adjacent lobules is much denser and more consistent. 

Amidst these extensive changes of the lung tissue, the larger air passages usually 
remain singularly free from disease. Those which actually ramify in the diseased portions 
of the lung present more or less congestion of their mucous membrane and generally con- 
tain a variable quantity of puruloid mucus, or of yellow lymph, not unlike that seen in the 
pleural cavity; but the bronchial inflammation which exists in these situations does not 
generally extend to the other bronchial tubes or the trachea. 

In considering the general character of the lesions briefly sketched in the foregoing 
paragraphs, it appeared to me that the following points were especially deserving of micro- 
scopical investigation : the alterations in the lung parenchyma ; those in the connective 
tissue of the pleura, pericardium, and interlobular sej^ta ; the structure of the lymph 
masses adherent to the pleura and pericardium, and the peculiar transformation of portions 
of the adipose tissue in the vicinity of the heart. 

For the purposes of this investigation I not merely examined the elements obtained 
by tearing and scraping the tissues to be studied, and observed fragments or sections 
immersed simply in the serum which drained from the cedematous organ, but I made use 
of the well-known glycerine method, and, above all, caused my assistant, Dr. Schaeffer, to 
jiropare the thin section to which I have already alluded. For this purpose, the process 
most generally employed at the museum for the preparation of thin sections of pathologica 
tissues was resorted to, a process which I have described in full elsewhere.* Its general 
features are as follows : 

Small portions of the parts intended for investigation are hardened and gradually 
robbed of their moisture by soaking them for a few days in alcohol of moderate strength, 
replacing this by alcohol of 95 per cent., in which they remain a few days longer, when 
they are immersed in absolute alcohol until they are hard enough to cut into thin sec- 
tions by means of a razor and one of the ordinary cutting machines. The nuclei are then 
stained with Thiersch's carmine fluid, or with carmine dissolved in a saturated solution of 
borax, after which they are again placed a few days in absolute alcohol, and finally 
mounted in a solution of Canada balsam in chloroform or benzole. When the solution of 
carmine and borax was employed the sections were subsequently treated with oxalic acid, 
to give brilliancy to the carmine staining. 

Instead of the above, some of the sections after staining were immersed for some 
time in glycerine and finally mounted in a jelly of glycerine and gum arabic. These prep- 
arations were at first quite as beautiful as those mounted in Canada balsam, but, though less 

* Amprican .Tounial of Mptlical Scioiices, .Jaimury, 1869, page 277 ; see, also, Instructions to Medical OfBcers to whom 
a Mieniscope is furnished, Snrgeon General's Ofiice, July 1, 1868. 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 67 

than a year has elapsed since they were made, they arc already considerably altered, and 
have long been far inferior in distinctness and beauty to those preserved in balsam. 

My experience at the museum has led me to give preference to the method described 
over any other which I have tried for the purpose of making sections of pathological tissue. 
The preparations which result closely resemble in appearance those obtained when success- 
fully-made fresh sections are stained with carmine and mounted in glycerine, after Beale's 
method, and they not merely present the arrangement of the parts with much less displace- 
ment of the elements, but are better suited for study with high powers, and it is possible 
to prepare satisfactorily much larger and thinner sections. They possess, moreover, the 
incontestable advantage of being cape.ble of indefinite preservation, and hence I am able 
to state that those which have served for the following description can be seen at the 
museum by any microscopist desirous of studying them. 

To illustrate the descriptions here offered, I have prepared a series of photo-micrographs, 
representing characteristic portions of certain of the sections. The objects photographed 
are shown with a magnifying power of four hundred diameters, linear. The objective used 
was the Jth of William Wales, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, which is specially corrected for 
photography. No eye-piece was employed. The source of illumination in most cases was 
the oxycalcium light. The process resorted to has been published in full in my recent 
reports to the Surgeon General on the electric, magnesium, and calcium lights as sources of 
illumination in photo-micrography, and need not, therefore, be described in this place.'" 

The minute structure of the parts selected for study will now be briefly described in 
the order already indicated : 

1. The alterations in the parenchyma of the lung will be best understood after a 
brief sketch of the appearances presented by sections made through normal or nearly nor- 
mal portions. Such sections, prepared as already described, and mounted in balsam, af- 
forded quite satisfactory objects for study. Since the morsels of lung selected were not in- 
flated before immersing them into the alcohol, the air vesicles on the periphery of the pieces, 
of course, collapsed more or less completely. Those in the central portions, however, re- 
tained their shajje to a tolerable extent, and from such portions, therefore, the sections 
were prepared. The air vesicles, as seen in these sections, were irregularly polygonal, 
approaching a rounded or oval form, and averaged about 2 Joth of an inch in their long diam- 
eter. Their walls, when cut transversely in the sections, appeared to be composed largely 
of capillary blood-vessels, the contours of which could readily be observed. The numerous 
nuclei of the walls of these capillaries averaged 35'ooth of an inch in long diameter. In 
places where larger vessels came into view, the elements of their walls could usually be well 
made out, and were generally surrounded by more or less connective tissue, in which elas- 
tic fibers were often prominent. In all the sections there were numerous air vesicles so 
divided by the knife that, in certain positions of the fine adjustment of the microscope, 
a view of the inner surface of one of the walls of the vesicle was obtained. This always 
presented numerous oval nuclei arranged at regular intervals, and delicate contours could 
generally be traced between them, which, it seemed to me, could be best interpreted, in 
many cases, by supposing them to be portions of the boundaries of flat, jDolygonal, nu- 
cleated cells, corresponding to the epithelium of the air vesicles described by some authors. 
The appearances might also, perhaps, be interpreted by the supposition that the nuclei 

* See also Ainericau Journ.il of Arts and Sciences, May, 1870, the National Medical Journal, April, 1870, and the 
London Monthly Microscopical Journal for June and August, 1870. 



68 DEPAJITMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

belonged to the capillaries of the wall in view, and the delicate contours might be referred 
to the limiting membrane of these vessels, but it seemed to me that neither the relative 
position of the nuclei, nor the direction of the contours, corresponded so well with this 
view as with that first mentioned. The nuclei, moreover, were somewhat broader than 
those of the undoubted capillaries in other portions of the section, though of the same average 
length. The epithelial cells, if such they were, averaged x2Vuth of an inch in long diameter. 

The first of the photo-micrographs aj^pended, represents a portion of one of these 
sections, (No. 2801, Microscopical Section,) and exhibits the appearance described, as seen 
with 400 diameters. In arranging the focal adjustment of the microscope so as to bring 
into view that portion of the wall of the air vesicle which displays the epithelium-like 
appearance, the rest of the section is necessarily thrown out of focus, and is so represented 
in the photograph. 

When, now, sections of the diseased portions of the lung were compared with the 
above, the most noteworthy alteration observed was in the contents of the air vesicles. 
These, which had been quite empty in the healthy lung, were in the diseased portion 
found to contain pus corpuscles in variable numbers. All possible transitions could be 
seen between vesicles containing a few scattered corpuscles and those in which the whole 
cavity was filled with them. Where the pus corpuscles were not numerous enough to 
obscure the view, delicate fibrin filaments could generally be made out between them, so 
that the contents of the air vesicles were, in fact, quite similar in composition to the lymph 
masses on the surface of the pleura and in the interlobular trabeculse, which will be 
presently described. The sections containing but a few scattered pus corpuscles were 
from the reddened and oedematous portions of the lung, which, however, still contained 
enough air to enable them to float on water; those containing numerous pus corpuscles, 
with fibrin filaments between, were from portions of the lung which had entered, more or 
less completely, into the stage of red hepatization, while those which were stufTcd so full 
of pus corpuscles that the shape of the air vesicle and its relations to neighboring parts 
were quite obscured, were from the most completely hepatized portions, or from those 
which had passed into the condition of gray hepatization. 

With these changes in the contents of the air vesicles of the diseased lung, altera- 
tions undoubtedly occurred in the walls of the air vesicles. In the sections they appeared 
thicker than normal, they took up carmine more abundantly when stained, and their 
texture became more and more granular in the more completely hepatized portions of the 
parenchyma, so that it was difficult to make out their structure and to trace the precise 
changes which they had undergone. With these changes there was associated a notable 
diminution in the cohesiveness of the tissue, which became friable and easily torn, as has 
long been observed in the case of pneumonic lungs in the human subject. I regret greatly 
that the time at my disposal did not permit more elaborate research with regard to these 
changes, yet cannot avoid the opinion that the difficulties to be encountered in this 
direction are so great as materially to diminish the probability that more protracted efforts 
would have proved fruitful in the present incomplete state of our knowledge of the 
histology of the lung. I append two photo-micrographs taken from one of these sections, 
(No. 2808, Microscopical Section,) each magnified 400 diameters. They exhibit partially 
hepatized portions of the lung in which the air vesicles contain the pus corpuscles and 
fibrin filaments above described. The second jiliotograpli rvpn'seuts a rather ninre advanced 
stage than the first. 



TUE LUNG TLAGUE. (59 

2. The alter ahons in the connective tissue of the pleura, pericardium, and interlobular 
septa have next to be described. The connective tissue of the inflamed pleura or pericar- 
dium was more or less thickened in accordance with the stage of the disease. In fresh 
sections it was whitish or yellowish white, sometimes lardaceous, sometimes opaque and 
yellow. Where lymph masses were adherent the epithelium could no longer be made out, 
even when the superimposed lymph was so loosely attached as to permit it to be readily 
stripped off. Every transition existed between this condition and that in which the 
diseased membrane and the adjacent lymph mass appeared to pass into each other by 
insensible gradations. In the microscopical examination of sections the most notable 
alteration observed was the great increase in the number of cellular elements. The 
character and distribution of these could generally be inferred from the distribution of the 
oval carmine-stained nuclei, TiVooth to ssVoth of an inch in length, but in many parts of the 
sections the elongated or even spindle-formed cells in which the nuclei were contained could 
be plainly distinguished. They were imbedded in a delicately fibrillated matrix, and were 
very generally grouped together in rows. Such rows of elements, it is well known, have, 
until recently, been interpreted as the progeny of the connective tissue corpuscles, from 
which they were supposed to be derived by the process of cell multijjlication. The recent 
investigations of Cohnheim, which have found very general acceptance in Germany, would 
appear, however, to throw doubts on this view. I shall return to the subject in the sequel. 

The conditions to be observed in the thickened connective tissue septa between the 
lobules were essentially similar to the above. The fourth photograph appended is intended 
to illustrate these changes in the inflamed connective tissue. It is taken from No. 2817, 
]\Iicroscopical Section, which is a portion of inflamed pericardium, and is magnified 400 
diameters. The arrangement of the numerous nuclei, and the fibrillated character of the 
matrix in which they are imbedded, are well displayed. 

3. The lymph masses adherent to the pleura and pericardium, and the flakes of lymph 
which floated in the serum contained in the thoracic cavities, were composed of coagulated 
fibrin with a variable number of pus corpuscles imbedded. The fibrin was sometimes 
merely granular, but very often distinctly filamentous. The serum itself usually con- 
tained floating pus corpuscles ; their number being proportioned to the degree of turbidity 
observed in the fluid. The fifth photograph appended, taken from a portion of No. 2817, 
Microscopical Section, represents a portion of the lymph mass adherent to the pericardium^ 
magnified 400 diameters. It will be seen that the pus corpuscles are quite abundant. 

4. The transformed adipose tissue about the pericardium remains now to be briefly 
described. Sections showed that the fat vesicles retained their shape, and generally their 
fatty contents, but the delicate transparent connective tissue by which they are held 
together in the normal condition was greatly thickened, and in its more or less distinctly 
fibrillated substance numbers of new elements could be observed, as in the case of the 
connective tissue of the diseased pleura. In the balsam-mounted sections, these appear- 
ances are well preserved with the exception that the contents of the fat vesicles have been 
dissolved by the reagents used. The last of the appended photographs represents a portion 
of one of these sections magnified 400 diameters. It is taken from No. 2794, Microscop- 
ical Section. 

Although the foregoing observations were very carefully made, they are far from being 
as complete as I could have wished, and many important points connected with the his- 



70 DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUllE. 

tology of the diseased parts, remain untouched. Still I entertain the hope that what I 
have been enabled to accomplish with the opportunities at my disposal, will possess some 
real value, particularly as the course pursued of preserving sections in a permanent form 
will permit these to serve for further study in the future, in connection with any similar 
investigations that may hereafter be undertaken in this country. 

It will be observed, from the descriptions I have offered, that the disease is one of 
those intense and rapidly spreading inflammatory affections characterized by the develop- 
ment of what Rokitansky formerly described as croupous exudates, on the surface of the 
affected serous membrane, and in the parenchyma of the organs involved. The examina- 
tion of specimens taken from animals dead at different periods during the course of the 
disease, and the study of different portions of the same lung when a part is comparatively 
healthy and a part diseased, would seem to indicate the correctness of the opinion of 
Professor Weber''' that the pleura is primarily involved, and that the parenchyma of 
the lung is only affected secondarily, after the pleura coating the lobules, and the con- 
nective tissue trabeculse connected with it, have become involved. The comparatively 
healthy condition of the air passages, or at least of those portions of them which are not 
imbedded in the hepatized parts of the lung, is particularly worthy of note. 

In its histological relations, it will be perceived that the disorder is characterized by 
the appearance of immense numbers of pathological elementary forms in the parts involved. 
These appear in the air vesicles of the lungs, in the lymph masses adherent to the pleura 
and the pericardium, and in the abundant serous fluid which accumulates in the thoracic 
cavities, under the well-known form of pus cells. In the sections of the inflamed con- 
nective tissue of the pleura and pericardium, the connective tissue of the interlobular 
trabecula3, and of the adipose tissue about the pericardium, the new elements do not, 
however, sufficiently resemble pus cells to permit me to assume them to be such without 
hesitation. 

In describing the sections of the inflamed pericardium and pleura, I have already 
mentioned that the nuclei were oval in form, s-jVoth to ^i^Voth of an inch in long diameter, and 
generally grouped together in rows of two, three, or more elements ; and I mentioned that 
the views of Virchow, by which these rows were interpreted as the progeny of the pro- 
liferation of the normal connective tissue corpuscles of the part, were assailed by the 
recent investigations of Cohnheim. According to this observer they are, in fact, rows of 
wliite blood corpuscles, which have made their way through the walls of the blood ves- 
sels during the inflammatory process, and which are found in longer or shorter rows sim- 
ply because in their "wandering" they are obliged to follow the course of the natural 
channels which exist in the tissues. Kow, the pus corpuscles above described in the 
lymph masses, and in the cavities of the air vesicles, can readily be understood to have, 
perhaps, had this origin; certainly none of the lung sections I have preserved exhibit any 
appearances which would indicate that their pus corpuscles were genetically connected 
with any process of proliferation going on in the normal anatomical elements of the lung. 
But with the new elements observed in the inflamed connective tissue, this explanation is 
not so satisfactory. Take, for example, the sections of the inflamed pericardium. Here 
the nuclei of the numerous new cells, seen in the sections, resemble the nuclei of em- 
bryonic connective tissue corpuscles, and not those of pus. And where it is possible, as 



THE LUNG PLAGUE. 71 

it. is in many places, to distinguish the cell forms in which they lie, these are seen to have 
the character of young connective tissue cells. If, indeed, they are white blood corpus- 
cles, they have then already been transformed to the similitude of the elements charac- 
teristic of the tissue in which they have imbedded themselves, and it appears to me that 
in the present state of our knowledge we are not yet justified in assuming such a trans- 
formation to be more than a bare possibility. In his criticism of the observations of His 
on the inflamed cornea, Cohnheim has, as I think, correctly attempted to show that the 
rows of cells supposed by that author to have proceeded from the proliferation of the cor- 
nea corpuscles are in fact rows of white corpuscles crowded into the channels which 
normally exist in the corneal tissue, and explains that His was misled by the transforma- 
tions effected in the corpuscles by the reagents he employed. This criticism, however, 
will not apply with any force to the sections under consideration, for these were all pre- 
pared in precisely the same manner, and those of the lung tissue and of the lymjjh masses 
present the pus corpuscles in some places almost quite unaltered, in all readily recogniz- 
able in spite of any transformation they may have undergone, while the new cells, crowded 
into the connective tissue, have the characters which I have described. 

I invite attention to this subject the more particularly because my study of the essa3's 
of Cohnheim lead me to regard his opinion with very great resi^ect. His generalizations 
and theories are deduced from new observations made by himself and others, very many 
of which have been confirmed by several careful histologists. A number of them have 
been satisfactorily repeated under my direction at the Army Medical Museum with similar 
results. Among these I may particularly specify the new developments with regard to the 
structure of the blood-vessels resulting from the use of a solution of nitrate of silver as 
an injecting and staining fluid ; the wandering of the white corpuscles through the vas- 
cular walls in the mesentery of wourarized frogs, when that membrane is inflamed by 
drawing out a knuckle of intestine through an opening in the abdominal parietes ; the new 
observations on the structure of the cornea, particularly those resulting from its treatment 
with nitrate of silver, chloride of gold, and its examination while fresh in the moist cham- 
ber, and from the study by these processes of the inflamed cornea of the frog. 

The results of the investigations on these subjects, conducted by myself and my assist- 
ants, have accorded so well with the descriptions of Cohnheim as to incline me to regard 
with much favor those of his statements which I have not yet had an opportunity of sub- 
mitting to investigation, but I am not prepared to accept without reserve the ingenious 
argument by which he attempts to generalize from the facts acquired to the complete 
interpretation of the process of inflammation, and am of the opinion that much yet remains 
to be done before we shall be prepared to define with precision the part taken by the 
migration of the white corpuscles in the inflammatory process. 

In conclusion, I may remark that the future success of investigations into the patho- 
logical histology of the disease under consideration must depend to a great extent upon 
the progress made in our knowledge of the minute anatomy of the healthy lung. At the 
present time the methods of research at our disposal are not such as to overcome com- 
pletely the difficulties offered by the complex structure of this organ. Observers have not 
even agreed as to the solution of such apparently simple questions as the existence of an 
epithelium in the air vesicles. More intricate problems, such as the minute relations of 
the lymphatics, for example, lie still in utter darkness. Future success in these imper- 



72 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 

fectly explored fields may be exi)ected in proportion as observers resort more and more to 
the practice of preserving in a permanent way the type specimens which serve as a basis 
for their descriptions, and in proportion as photographs are substituted for those half- 
schematic or diagraraatic drawings, which represent rather the interpretation of the inves- 
tigator than the objects as they exist in nature. But perhaps even more is to be antici- 
pated from the application of new reagents, and of improved modes of preparing the tis- 
sues for microscopic examination. When we reflect on the extent of the additions 
which have been made to our knowledge of minute anatomy by processes quite recently 
introduced, such as imbibition with nitrate of silver, chloride of gold and osmic acid, 
the preparation of thin sections of frozen tissues and the use of the moist chamber, 
it is impossible to resist the conclusion that it is from future improvements in this direc- 
tion that solid progress in the normal and pathological histology of the lung is chiefly to 
be expected. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. J. WOODWARD, 
Assistant Surgeon and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel United States Army, 
in charge of the Medical and Ificroscopical Sections of the Museum. 
Brevet Major General J. K. Barnes, 

Surgeon General U. S. Army. 



ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. 




A.Hoen& Co chromolitii. Baltimore. 



K?!. SECTION" OP HEALTHY PORTION OF LUNG, 
showing Epithelium (?). From a Cow dead of Epidemic Pleuro^pneumonia. 

.'Vtuaiitial 400 diameters. PliotografjJiol by ttieCaJcJurii light Bv Brf.ht Col, J..I.\Vo(xh»'ard ApsI Surgeon U.S.Aj-niy 



ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. 




atfejag'.^ --.^.^i^^t^i^aiigatuas::^: .g^.-. 



^^iiaa 



A.HoeiiSc Co- BalDmoxe . 



N9 2. SECTION OF INFLAMED PORTION OF LUNG, 
showing pus corpuscles in the air. vesicles. From a Cow dead of Epidemic Pleuro-pneumonia. 

M;it>nific-(J 400 (iianifters. Phntograplu-d %' the CalciuTn light By Brt . Lt , (.bl . .J. J.Woodward ^st Sur.^eori U, S. Army 



ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. 



i 




A-HoenScCo J3<dtimoye 



N9 3. SECTION OF INFLAMED PORTION OF LUNG, 
showing pus corpuscles in the air vesicles. From a Cow dead of Epidemic Pleuro- pneumonia. 

.Magnified 400 diameters. Photographed tiy ttie Calcium light By Brt . Lt Col . J. J .Woodward i\sst. Surgeon U. S. Army 



ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. 




A.Hoen& Co. Baltimore 

NO 4 SECTION OF INFLAMED PORTION OF PERICARDIUM. 
showing numerous new elements. From a Cow dead of Epidemic Pleuro-pneumonia. 

Mao„i]«^400<lia.nettrs.Photographnll^*ea-Uc>um light ByBrt.Lt.Col. J.J.Woodwaic] Asm Sor^.on U.S.An..v. 



ARMT MEDICAL MUSEUM. 









jVHoenJt Co chromoJith. Baltimore . 

N9 5. PORTION OF THE EXUDATION IN THE PERICARDIUM, 
showing pus cells. From a Cow dead of Epidemic Pleuro-pneumonia. 

JMa^ified 400 diameters. Photographed by the OUcium h^t ByBrt . Lt Col. J. J.Woodward AssX. Surgeon U S. Army: 



ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. 




A.Hoen& Co. Baltir 



N9 6. SECTION OF INFLAMED FAT, 

showing inflammatory products between the Fat cells. From ttie Fat abouttheffericardmm ofaCow dead of Epidemic Pleuropneumonia. 

Magnified 400 diameters. Ptintofiraphoi l>y Uie Calcium Uglit By .Brt.Lt. Col. J. .I.Woodwarri AsHt Sur^.-on U. S, Army. 



REPORT 

PROF. GAMGKE OX THE ILL EFFECTS OF SMUT IN FEED OF FARM ANIMALS. 



Sir: The opportunity presented itself last fall for an inquiry as to the manner in which 
the smuts which attack plants may affect animals. The latter part of 1868 was, throughout 
America, very wet ; a large amount of corn became smutty, that is to say, was attacke d to 
a serious extent by Ustilago maidis, and reports reached me from the West and South that 
cattle were dying in large numbers from a mysterious malady, the origin of which was 
unknown. From Mills County, Iowa, I was informed, late in November, that about the 
12th of the month there was a fall of snow six inches deep, and that the cattle, which 
usually roam at large on the prairies, were taken in by all the better farmers who had 
their corn gathered, and turned into the stalk fields. In about eight days the cattle began 
to die, all presenting the same symptoms. My informant, Mr. James Hull, of Plattsmouth, 
Nebraska, lost four out of nineteen head in fourteen days. This gentleman, alarmed at 
the number of deaths, turned his cattle out of the stalk field aad gave them all the salt 
they would eat, mixed with copperas and sulphur. As soon as the bowels were moved 
the symptoms disappeared. Mr. Hull also gave the cattle asafretida by "driving it into 
the cob of the corn." 

Personal inquiries among gentlemen from different parts of the United States, in 
Washington, enabled me to trace the malady in Western Virginia, Illinois, and the Caro- 
linas. It is much to be regretted that accurate information as to the extent of losses, and 
the localities affected, cannot be secured. 

There are other circumstances under which cattle die from eating corn. The stalks, 
very late in the season, are apt to become very hard and indigestible, and without a free 
admixture of grass, which the early frosts kill, or other food, they produce severe indi- 
gestion and death. This is an observation that has often been made in America. More- 
over, cattle die sometimes if freely fed on corn that has been badly stored, and is musty. 
The same results follow the use of other deteriorated foods, and a brief reference to records 
on this subject may be found interesting and instructive. 

The facts published with regard to the prevalence of a malady among cattle in Amer- 
ica, caused by eating smutty corn, are very few. If, however, the real cause of many cases 
of so-called dry murrain had been recorded correctly, there would be no difficulty in 
demonstrating that the condition of the corn-fields has had much to do in developing this 
disorder. 

The Department of Agriculture has received information of the death of cattle from 
eating smutty corn, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Also from Whitley County, 
Indiana, where seven head of cattle, out of fifty, died, "probably from smut in the corn- 
field in which the herd ranged." 
10 



74 DEl'AKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

From Story County, Iowa, it is reported tliat " last K^ovember a disease appeared 
amonfT herds recently turned into corn-stalk fields. The disease is evidently the dry mur- 
rain. A post-mortem examination showed the mucous membrane of the stomach to be 
hiffhly inflamed, with symptoms of poisoning. It is evident that the disease is generated 
in the stalk fields, and probable that it is produced by gorging the stomach when first turned 
into the stalks, after being confined on the wild, frost-bitten, prairie grass, and lack of 
sufficient water." A few cattle died of dry murrain in Audubon County, in the same 
State, "supposed by some to be caused by smut in corn-stalks." A few head were lost 
from the same cause in Calhoun County, and many are reported to have died in Marshall 
County. We are, however, informed from Sac County that many cattle died in Decem- 
ber — cause unknown ; "some supposed from eating smutty corn, but that has been dis- 
proved." It is to be regretted that more is not stated with regard to the reasons which led 
persons to doubt the efiects of the smutty corn. Even in New York State little credence 
was given to the action of smutty corn at first ; but careful inquiry proved that after all it 
was the cause of the dry murrain of the fall of 1868. From Dakota County, Nebraska, 
we learn of dry murrain from this cause ; whereas from Shawnee County it is reported, 
and no doubt correctly, that the same disease has been noticed among cattle " fed on 
prairie hay, cut after frost." 

In Scotland the clovers are apt to induce a similar condition at times, and the mal- 
ady is there called "grass disease." It is not a specific afi'ection, but arises from a dry- 
ness and indigestibility of one kind of food, animals being debarred by circumstances from 
a salutary admixture of diflerent kinds of feed. 

The cultivation of maize or Indian corn is already ancient in America; and the intro- 
duction of this important grain into Spain, and as far back as 1560 into Italy, should have 
resulted in the knowledge of its effects on man and animals, under the many conditions 
in which it is found. Indeed, we are not without some knowledge of the subject, though 
it is to be regretted that accurate information can be gleaned from the writings of few 
who have referred to it. Both in its efi"ects on men and animals, the consumption of In- 
dian corn should be studied in localities where at times it constitutes the main article of 
diet, and where it is used at all times with other kinds of food. 

Among men in America, from time immemorial, its use could be diversified by that 
of game, whereas in some parts of Italy, remarkable for the prevalence of "pellagra among 
the inhabitants, people often live exclusively on corn bread, or the corn pudding they 
call polenta. The excess of starchy constituents, and scantiness of nitrogenous materials 
in corn as compared with the other grains from which flour and bread are manufactured, 
have been considered the causes of a cachectic and ill-nourished condition said to prevail 
wherever maize is the staple article of diet among a people. 

Mazzari,'-' Nardi,f and Letti have described the pellagra of Italy, which I witnessed 
some years ago in a bad form in the hospital of Ferrara, as due to diseased or smutty 
corn. 

The extensive cultivation of maize in Italy dates from the eighteenth century, and it 
is recorded by the celebrated Monati and others that before that jseriod pellagra was 
unknown. Balardini experimented with a view to demonstrate that the smut on corn is 
poisonous, and he records deleterious effects on fowls and even dogs. 

* Saggio medico-politico sulla pellagra, Milano, 1836. t Causa e cura della pellagra, Milano, 1836. 



ILL EFFECTS OF SMUT. 75 

Although this does not exactly correspond with one result I have obtained, and 
recorded below, it is most desirable that experiments should be continued on the subject. 
Balardini confirms the observation of Vallenzosca della Falcadina, that the pellagra 
recorded by Odoardo as prevailing in the Alps of Bellano in 1776 completely disappeared 
on the introduction of the potato as the basis of the food of the poor. 

M. Signad, in his Diseases of Brazil, attributes the chlorosis or intertropical ana?mia 
among the black slaves and the inhabitants on the western side of the Sierra dos Organos 
to the exclusive use of Indian corn. 

The symptoms recorded by Jubins are, pallor of the face and body, yellowish, some- 
what transparent, and sometimes greenish tint of the skin. The blacks that become 
affected lose their color. 

M. Ruldin records, in the fifth volume of the Journal de Chimie Medicale, some 
observations on what he calls ergot of maize, but which Heusinger believes is the ordinary 
charbon, or smut. Roulin saw this diseased grain in the southern parts of Colombia, 
where it is called maiz peladera. Its use causes people to lose their hair, and this is very 
remarkable in a country where baldheadedness is almost unknown, even among old people. 

Sometimes it causes looseness and the loss of teeth, but never gangrene of the limbs 
nor convulsive maladies. Pigs at first dislike this diseased corn, but soon acquire a taste 
for it, and after eating it for a few days their bristles drop out, and subsequently there is 
an awkwardness in the movements of their hind legs, and atrophy of those limbs. Eating 
the pigs produces no ill effects on man. Mules eat the maiz peladera, lose their hair, and 
suffer from engorgements of the limbs; they are tied in distant pastures, and with the 
change of diet some recover. Hens fed on the material lay eggs without shells. In the 
corn fields where the disease prevails it is not uncommon to see monkeys and parrots fall 
unable to rise again. The indigenous dogs and deer that enter the corn fields at night 
sufi'er in the same way. 

It is asserted that across the Paramos, in the colder parts of Colombia, these 
accidents are not seen ; and Dr. Roulin has indeed witnessed them only in the provinces 
of Neyra and Mariquita. 

Dulong* has analyzed corn smut, and although his analysis cannot at the present day 
be considered satisfactory, it is the only one on record. He found it to contain a material 
similar to fungine, a material allied to osmazone, a nitrogenous substance, a fatty matter, 
a waxy matter, acids, a brown coloring matter, a free organic acid, and combinations of 
this acid with magnesia and potash ; lastly, he found phosphate, muriate, and sulphate of 
potash, subphosphate of lime, sal ammoniac, and oxide of iron ; it contained no starch. 

Anxious to try some experiments on the action of pure smut on cattle, I employed a 
negro in January, 1869, to go into the country and collect for me a large quantity of pure 
smut. 

It was rather late, and the rains had washed most of it off" the still standing stalks ; 
but I obtained forty-two pounds of excellent smut, free from adventitious matters. On 
the 26th day of February, Mr. George Reid, of Ingleside farm, near Washington, D. C, 
purchased two cows, in good health, and aged respectively about seven years. One cow 
was fed thrice daily one and one-half pound of corn-meal and three ounces of smut, mixed 
with as much cut hay as she would eat. The second had the same allowance, but wet. 

* Journal do Pharmacie, vol. xiv. 



76 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 

On the 7th of ]\rarch the amount of smut given in each feed was increased to six 
ounces. The cow fed on dry food lost flesh. On the 15th of March the dose of smut was 
increased to twelve ounces three times a day. The cow on the wet food gained in condi- 
tion. The other one lost. In three weeks the two cows consumed the forty-two pounds 
of smut ; they had a voracious appetite the whole time, and the only indication of a peculiar 
diet was a very black color of the excrement, and the loss of flesh by one animal although 
fed liberally on nutritious diet, which, however, was given in a dry state. 

On the 12th of March the temperature of both cows was tested, and found 102°. 2 
and 102°. 4 Fahrenheit. 

No conclusions of importance can be drawn from a single experiment ; but it is evi- 
dent that smut is not a very active poison in combination with wholesome food, and espe- 
cially if the animal is allowed moist food and j^lenty of water to drink. Cattle will eat the 
smut greedily, and possibly a morbid taste for it is acquired, as has been observed in pigs. 
It is evident that cornstalks, when starch and other nutritive elements have gone to build 
up the large quantities of smut investing them, are essentially dry, indigestible material for 
any animal to live on, and especially when excluded from other food. That is quite suf- 
ficient to account for the development of the dry murrain that so commonly attacks cattle 
in the United States, and was more frequent than usual last winter. 

Diversifying and multiplying experiments on this question will undoubtedly result in 
some interesting information, and I am quite confident that it will be fully demonstrated 
that smutty corn cannot be used safely, and certainly not economically, as a food 
for cattle, and should not be allowed them without a great admixture of hay and other 
nutritious food. The more water and succulent food cattle are allowed while eating corn- 
stalks, the less liable they will be to a deadly constipation and gastric impaction. Numer- 
ous and even angry discussions have in times past been carried on in different parts of 
Europe in relation to the action of mouldy, musty, or otherwise damaged fodder on the 
lower animals, and a few observations on the results of feeding horses, &c., on hay and 
grain tainted by fungi may be regarded as of importance here, if only as a means of com- 
parison. 

-The evident tendency is to derange the alimentary canal in the first place, then to 
disturb the process of nutrition or assimilation, and lastly to excite the emunctories for 
the discharge of noxious principles, more particularly by inducing an excessive secretion 
of uiine, or diarrhoea. 

MUSTY HAY. 

It has frequently been observed that the imperfect curing of hay, especially during 
wet seasons, is followed by serious derangements among horses, mules, and other animals, 
which sutler from severe indigestion, impaction of the stomach accompanied by vertigo, or 
the profuse discharge of clear-colored urine, with intolerable thirst, emaciation, weak- 
ness, and death. It is said that the Hungarian hay, in different parts of America, and 
especially in parts of Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas, is apt to cause considerable losses, 
if cut after full inflorescence and late in the season. I have been told by Kansas farmers 
that great attention has to be paid to a sufficiently early hay-making in order to avoid 
accidents. 



ILL EFFECTS OF SMUT. 77 

In 1855 I witnessed in Lyons, France, naany cases of disease and niimerons deatlis 
among horses, from the great abundance of musty hay, gathered during an unusually wet 
season. Scarcely a day passed but one or more cart horses were literally dragged to the 
veterinary college. They moved along with hanging head, sunken eye, dependent lip, and 
tottering gait, suflfering from pains in the abdomen, and considerable tympanitis ; partial 
sweats bedewed the body, the visible mucous membranes were of an intensely yellow 
color, and the urine dark. On reaching a loose box, the patients were tied to a center 
post, which turned as they moved round, and prevented them from dashing their heads 
against the wall. The muscles twitched, the horses writhed in pain, and dashed about in 
fits of delirium. Two hundred and forty-nine cases of this kind were admitted into the 
infirmary from August, 1854, to August, 1855. The disease raged almost as an epizootic 
from the month of September, 1854 ; and not only in the neighborhood of Lyons, but in 
many departments of France. 

In the month of November, 1856, I was requested to see a Clydesdale stallion, near 
Kirkcaldy, in Fife. This horse had, as is very usual on Scotch farms, been turned into a 
large shed, and allowed as much hay as he w^ould eat, and a couple of feeds of oats. On 
moving the animal out of the stable, he nearly fell, and had evidently lost much of his 
natural control over the m(yvements of his hinder limbs. It was no new form of disease, 
but one of those singular forms of paraplegia so commonly observed in herbivorous ani- 
mals, as the result of improper feeding and acute indigestion. The owner thought the 
animal had seriously injured his spine. A cathartic dose of aloes, the discontinuance of 
the use of hay which was musty, and a few doses of tonic medicine, restored the horse. 
From that time I was consulted frequently, and in different parts, especially around Edin- 
burgh and on the border counties of Scotland, regarding this disease. A large number of 
animals died, from ignorance of the nature and treatment of the disease, which disappeared 
with the close of the season during which the bad crop of hay was being consumed. These 
observations are recorded as mere instances of frequently recurring accidents, resulting 
from the feeding of horses on musty hay. 

MUSTY OATS. 

Among the numerous sources of inconvenience and loss to owners of horses in Europe 
and America, few are more troublesome than the results of feeding on musty oats. I have 
known a large establishment, with nearly five hundred horses, the entire stock of which was 
simultaneously affected. Attention was first directed to the unusual wetness of the litter 
in the morning, and a great craving for water. The animals were weak, dull in harness, 
and hollow-flanked. The wasting of tissues progressed rapidly ; and in all that had any 
considerable exertion to undergo, the unthrifty look of their skin, well defined muscles 
from wasting of the fat around them, and the leanness of the upper part of the neck, 
where the great ligament suspending the head could be felt, like a rigid cord, constituted 
very decided and alarming symptoms. Persistence in work resulted in a form of albumi- 
nuria ; sometimes diarrhoea was readily induced, and a purgative would so contribute to 
increase the weakness and prostration that the animal would die or fall in a state of hectic. 
All this disturbance in the functions of nutrition, assimilation, and secretion ceased on 
changing the diet, administering astringents or drachm doses of iodide of potassium for a 
few days, and following up with a course of sulphate of iron, as a tonic, in very moderate 
quantities, not exceeding half a drachm or a drachm to each horse per day. 



78 DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 

Several ejiizootic attacks liave been attributed to rust or mildew in plants. From- 
ment looked upon it as causing great loss among sheep in Franconia, during the years 
1663, '64, and '65. Ramazini, professor of medicine at Modena and Parma, speaks of a 
contagious malady affecting men, cattle, and even the silk-worm, which broke out in 1690, 
The preceding four or five years had been very hot, and during 1689 and 1690, much rain 
having fallen, the country was inundated, and the grasses, fruits, and leguminous plants 
became aflectod with rust. Plagues which raged among animals in Hesse in 1693, in 
Hungary in 1712, and in Saxony in 1746, occurred with, and apparently as a result of, 
mildew affecting vegetables. Gerlach asserts that this will produce abortion and inflam- 
mation of the womb in ewes. Numann, Masseband, and Niemann have also written on the 
noxious properties of plants aff'ected with rust. 

RUSTY STRAW. 

In 1804 Gohier, afterward director of the Lyons Veterinary College, but then veter- 
inary surgeon to the 20th light dragoons, published an interesting monograph entitled " Des 
eflPets des paillos rouillees." The depot of Gohier's regiment was established at Arras on the 
7th of June, with about two hundred horses. For a month they continued healthy, being 
supplied with good forage ; some of the straw, however, was rusty. The whole regiment 
arrived and the straw supplied was worse ; several horses fell ill, being generally attacked 
by violent colic. In three days fourteen were aff'ected with the disease ; but, with the 
exception of two old horses that were ill for three days, the disease was only of a few 
hours' duration. The horses that partook most freely of the rusty straw were most 
seriously affected. In seven days thirty had suffered, and MM. Gohier and Masigny drew 
up a report condemning the forage. Their opinion was rejected by veterinary surgeons 
and others called upon to inquire into the matter, and the whole evil was attributed to 
some water, of which, however, the horses had always drunk while enjoying perfect health. 
After considerable annoyance and litigation it was recognized that the rusty straw, and 
even bad hay, had given rise to much disease and death among the horses of the regiment. 
During eight months, out of seven hundred horses, there were constantly forty-five to 
fifty in the infirmary, and in the month of November as many as sixty -two. The deaths 
were by those diseases which always prevail when animals are badly nourished, namely : 
stomach staggers, colic, marasmus, glanders, farcy, skin diseases, catarrhal affections, and 
cedematous swellings. Those horses suff"ering from oedema were very subject to gangrene, 
and if setons were applied, or a farcy-bud cauterized by fire, mortification of the wounded 
parts supervened, and the animals died in a few hours. Gohier says that not only the 
rusty straw but likewise the bad hay was a cause of the serious loss among the horses 
of his regiment. Gohier instituted several experiments to prove that the diseased straw 
was injurious, and not only was he successful with the straw, but a decoction of the same 
induced loss of appetite, a thin and sickly aspect, and other evidences that the animals 
had been poisoned. 

MOULDY BREAD. 

Flour is attacked by a very noxious red or orange-colored mould, [Penicillium roseum,) 
and a less poisonous greenish-blue mould, [Penicillium glaucum.) Bread made from flour 
which has been kept in a damp place, or that which is the produce of wheat grown and 
harvested during unfavorable weather, becomes mouldy and may be very deleterious. 



ILL EFFECTS OF SMUT. 79 

Accidents have happened where horses have been fed on such bread, and I may mention 
that it is not nucommon in some countries for horses to be fed at times partly on 
bread. Eating mouldy bread has been said to induce gastro-enteritis in horses, and Pro- 
fessor Fuchs saw two cases of stomach staggers induced by it, which were relieved by 
purgatives. 

SYMPTOMS OF THE ILL EFFECTS OF SMUTTY CORN. 

Cattle fed on smutty cornstalks first denote ill-health by constipation. It is true 
that a farmer may be attracted only by an animal lying down, with an unthrifty-looking, 
staring coat, and dry muzzle, and perhaps trembling ; or a steer maybe noticed "tucked up," 
with hind limbs drawn under, head depressed, shivering, dullness of eyes, and anxious 
expression of countenance. In a third variety the animal seems excited, breathes quickly, 
and is apparently somewhat delirious — indeed, in the conditions described by Mr, Gumming, 
of Ellen, Aberdeenshire, as resulting from impactions of the third stomach, as in cases of 
lead poisoning, nothing is more strange than this delirium, associated as it is sometimes 
with blindness. A farmer writing me from the West says that when he tried to put a 
rope around the head of a sick cow, which he found standing with all the symptoms of 
sickness presented by other animals of the herd which had been with her in the corn field, 
she turned and fought furiously. I have seen an animal in this condition, tied up 
in a stall, rush forward, fall on her knees, and then, extending herself on her side, suffer 
from a convulsive fit. In other cases, when attempts are made to lead such animals 
about, they run forward, plunge, strike against any obstacle, roar, moan, grunt in 
breathing, and appear to suffer acutely if touched or disturbed. In other words, with 
the impactions of the third stomach, which is the essential lesion of the disease, whether 
induced by smutty stalks, old indigestible stalks that have no smut, or other kind of food 
or poison, there are two distinct conditions induced — the one of stupor, listlessness, 
vertigo, and depression of spirits, indicated by the animals standing sullenly until they 
drop or are relieved; the second is a state of exquisite sensitiveness, a hyperaesthesia of 
the skin and system generally. The animals are not only excited, but in a state of 
actual suffering, and die very speedily in a state of coma or in convulsions. The disease 
does not last long. I have seen an animal linger on four or five days, but usually the 
whole course of the malady is run in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 

An animal first seems to show costiveness, with a dry mucus over the scanty excre- 
ment ; and although apparently undisturbed, and even feeding, may be dead in twelve to 
twenty-four hours. 

The diagnosis of the disease at an early period of its manifestations is therefore 
important, and it rests on the knowledge of the manner in which animals have been 
treated and fed, (as the simultaneous attack of several animals shows,) and especially on 
the observations of a fact that I have usually noticed, that the animals which have eaten 
most ravenously have been the first and most severely affected. Old cattle may some- 
times avoid the smutty food, and young animals eat heartily; the latter will be found the 
only ones to die. 

POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 

The state of torpor of the alimentary canal of animals affected with this disease is 
indicated on opening the belly and exposing the stomach to view. In the first stomach, 



80 ])i:rAET.MENT OF AfiRICULTUEE. 

or paunch, coru-liusks and corn are found in a dry condition. Sometimes the rumen is 
very full, and gas may have become disengaged in it so as to cause a great distension, 
which is relieved by puncture. The contents of the second stomach, or reticulum, are in 
the same condition as those of the first, though sometimes mixed with some fluid. The 
third stomach, manyplies or omasum, is firm, distended, and on being opened the food is 
found caked between the folds, with marked impressions of the papilke or little eminences 
which stud the mucous membrane. We find in almost all fevers a similar condition of 
the third stomach, and indeed in healthy animals it is that part of the digestive organs in 
which the food is most dry and packed preparatory for solution by the gastric juice and 
intestinal secretions. But there are other lesions associated with this "caking" of the 
food in the third stomach, in specific diseases, and its existence without these aftbrds 
evidence of a primary form of impaction, which has received most remarkable names, 
such as "staking," "bound," "fai'del-bound," &c. The fourth stomach contains but a 
scanty quantity of greenish, semi-digested matter, is usually reddened somewhat diffusely, 
and the redness increases at times toward the opening of the small intestines. 

The intestine, usually replete with somewhat solid and imperfectly digested food, is 
usually high colored, especially in the fundus of the cfecum and in the large portion of 
the colon. The rectum is the seat of ramified redness, and a consistent mucus coats its 
contents. 

Persons have reported a peculiar black color of one lung. This is due only to stag- 
nation of blood after death, in the organ nearest the ground; and the same kind of con- 
gestion or settling of the blood is apt to pervade other tissues and organs in the side on 
which an animal has been lying. 

TREATMENT. 

I have found the accidents resulting from the feeding of smutty corn to cattle very 
amenable to treatment. Almost all the animals die unless relieved, but it is not difficult 
to treat them successfully. At first a purgative must be administered ; such as a 
pound or a pound and a half of Epsom salts, or Glauber salts, alone, or combined with 
aloes, sulphur, or ginger. The following is a desirable purging drink : 

Sulphate of magnesia 1 pound. 

Powdered aloes 4 drachms. 

Powdered ginger 2 drachms. 

Water 1 quart. 

This is to be given in warm linseed tea, oat-meal gruel, or pure water. A pound or 
two of treacle, with eight drachms of aloes or a pint of linseed or sweet oil, may be 
used when the salts are not at hand. Cattle should be induced to drink either plain 
water or linseed tea. Common salt will create thirst, and for this purpose may be given 
in such quantities as will not make the liquid too salt to be palatable. Warm water in- 
jections are of the highest importance, and for this purpose the enema funnel,'-' which can 
be made by any tinsmith at a charge of about fifty cents, is the best instrument yet de- 

• This is an ordinary tin funnel, capable of holding one quart, with tlio pipe bent at right angles, abont ten inches 
long from the bend, with tiie extremity rounded by a niii.ss of soft solder to prevent the rectum houi being injured by 
the insertion of the sharp edges of tlie pipe. The contents flow into the intestine by gravitation. 



ILL EFFECTS OF SMUT. 81 

vised. About a quart or two of lukewarm water, without any addition but a little sweet 
oil to lubricate the tube of the instrument, may be poured into the rectum every half hour. 
On the second day it may be found that the medicine does not act very freely. The best 
agent to be given then is carbonate of ammonia in half-drachm doses, twice a day, largely 
diluted with linseed tea or gruel. Care must be taken in giving this medicine not to ex- 
coriate the mouth. As soon as the appetite returns, a succulent diet, such as grass, boiled 
turnips, sweet hay, &c., completes the animal's restoration. 

PREVENTION. 

It is evident that all such accidents as these I have described may be completely pre- 
vented by not allowing cattle to eat indigestible corn-stalks, whether their indigestibility 
arises from age, dryness, or smut. Mixed with an abundance of soft food such material 
may do no harm, and, indeed, has constantly been used with impunity ; but losses are 
very severe if cattle are compelled either to starve or to eat what may well be compared 
to broomsticks. 

The farmer who annually loses a large amount of the produce of lands tilled at great 
cost and trouble, should reflect that smut on corn is an evidence of bad farming, and, 
apart from the fact of danger to the lives of the animals on the farm, it is most desirable 
to extirpate the pest. That its eradication is possible, few will doubt who know, in case 
of other parasitic plants, such as the rust in wheat, how effectually the seed may be puri- 
fied and a healthy plant obtained in a well-prepared soil. Having fresh land to break up 
or old to plow again, the farmer should plow deeply and turn over the soil effectually. He 
should obtain his seed from a district or farm that is high, dry, well-cultivated, and free 
from smut. As the spores of Ustilago maidis are minute and in the form of impalpable 
powder, thousands may be dispersed in a sample of corn, and grow with the plant To 
avoid this, dipping the grain in a solution of copperas may be found of great service. The 
copperas, in the proportion of one pound to four bushels of corn, is to be dissolved in a 
little warm water, and then cold water added to make about a stable-pailful ; with this the 
corn is simply washed, not soaked. Soaking makes the grain swell, and interferes with 
sowing in machines. The corn is sown as soon as dampened with the solution. 

JOHN GAMGEE, M. D. 

Hon. Horace Capron, 

Commissioner of Agriculture. 

11 



HEPORT 

OF 

PROFESSOR GAMGEE ON THE SPLENIC OR PERIODIC FEVER OF CATTLE. 



Sir : Tlie transportation of northern cattle into Florida, Texas, parts of Mississippi, 
Louisiana, and South Carolina, and the traveling of southern herds across the grazing lands 
of States northward, result in the sickness and death of the animals which come within the 
range of a singular form of contamination. In Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Virginia, 
Kentucky, Carolina, and Georgia, the so-called Spanish or Texas fever has been the cause 
of losses prior to and since the war, and more especially during the last summer, and this 
fact has excited the most virulent opposition among the stock-raisers of those States to the 
driving of Texan steers across the prairies. The nature of this feeling is indicated by a let- 
ter from Mr. S. Morgan Welch, of Waverley, Missouri, to the Prairie Farmer of the 26th 
of September, 1868, in which he says: "Talk to a Missourian about moderation, when a 
drove of Texas cattle is coming, and he will call you a fool, while he coolly loads his gun, 
and joins his neighbors ; and they intend no scare, either. They mean to kill, do kill, 
and will keep killing until the drove takes the back track ; and the drovers must be 
careful not to get between their cattle and the citizens either, unless they are bullet- 
proof. No doubt this looks a good deal like border-ruffianism to you, but it is the way 
we keep clear of the Texas fever ; and, my word for it, Illinois will have to do the same 
thing yet. Congress ought to do something in regard to this stock. Very stringent laws 
were passed in regard to the rinderpest, and yet it is scarcely more fatal than Texas fever, 
only the latter is not contagious among our native cattle. Texas stock should not be 
allowed to cross the 35th parallel of north latitude alive." 

With rare exceptions the States of Illinois and Indiana were not visited with splenic 
fever prior to 1868, and the great reason for this is that southern stock has been slaugh- 
tered in the west by butchers and packers in the winter months, and has not been purchased 
in large quantities by cattle dealers and graziers, to fatten on the western prairies. But 
steers in Texas can be had in their prime lor eight to ten dollars in gold. It has been re- 
cently computed that there are five million head in that State alone, and that the net 
yearly increase, after allowing a discount of twenty-five per cent, for loss by disease and 
casualties, amounts to seven hundred and fifty thousand head. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the sufferings Texan cattle endure in being transported 
by steamers from the Texan coast to New Orleans, and thence to eastern or to western 
cities ; and it is, likewise, difficult to draw too vivid a picture of the perils and anxieties 
of a drover's Hfe. Energetic frontiersmen in small bands, armed to the teeth, collect a herd 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. ^3 

of cattle, varying from two to twelve hundred, and then drive at the rate of eight or ten 
miles a day, through unsettled lands, a distance of six to nine hundred miles ; always 
watching lest their cattle and horses be stampeded, or their own scalps be taken by wild In- 
dians Storms and herds of buffaloes are minor causes tending to scatter the drover's 
property. It is not uncommon for a heavy percentage of animals to be lost from the 
several causes named. 

Notwithstanding the waste in flesh and lives among stock on the New Orleans route, 
and the hardships to be endured by drovers in the Southwest, the prices realized for Texan 
steers, on reaching the great markets of America, prove, in many instances, highly 
remunerative. 

The scarcity of cattle in the West, especially since the war; the tempting prospects 
of utilizing thousands and tens of thousands of acres of open and unreclaimed prairie 
lands ; and the constitutional soundness of Texan cattle, which enables them individually 
to withstand influences which are destructive to other stock, are all causes which tend 
to favor the investment of western capital in such stock. 

The current has been too strong for ordinary State legislation ; and early, during the 
past spring, a strong tide set in, which brought large herds into the West, through New 
Orleans and Cairo, or, via Abilene, to St. Louis, Quincy, Chicago, Cincinnati, and to many 
grazing farms between those points. 

The people of Illinois were warned by Mr. D. 0. Emerson, of Vandalia, in a letter 
to the Chicago Tribune of the 26th of May. Circumstances have tended to give a historical 
worth to that brief communication. Mr. Emerson said : 

Having been a constant reader of your valuable paper for many years, and wishing to promote the general 
good and prosperity of our great and growing State, I would call the attention of farmers and cattle-growers to the 
following facts : While at Centralia yesterday I saw a very long train of stock cars filled with Texas and with Indiana 
oxen on tlieir way to Iroquois County, there to be fattened on the rich prairies ; and I learned that there were in the 
lot fourteen hundred head" of old, worn-out oxen, bringing the Spanish fever with them. A writer in the Missouri 
Democrat has described this disease as contagious, and says that it causes tlie destruction of our home cattle wherever 
these Texas cattle are taken. 

I arrived in Chicago on the 1st of June, the day on which Mr. Emerson's letter was 
published, and wrote to the Chicago Tribune, communicating information which had been 
furnished me by the Commissioner of Agriculture, and which indicated that, while trust- 
worthy and a23palling reports of the Spanish fever had been furnished by the people of 
Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and even Illinois, the Texas people were indignant at the 
imputations cast on their herds, just as the Kussians were when the rinderpest was 
attributed to importations from their country. 

Although the subject of meat preservation had brought me to America, it was only 
because I had for years striven, and to a certain extent striven in vain, to secure rational 
regulations of the cattle trafSc for the prevention of contagious diseases in my own coun- 
try ; and it was a matter of deep interest to me to find that similar dangers threatened 
the stock owners of the West. 

The abundant influx into Illinois of Gulf Coast cattle was soon followed by notices of 
ravages by disease at Cairo and elsewhere ; but none were heeded, until it was reported 
on the 27th of July that Mr. E. Richardson, of Farina,. had written to Governor Oglesby 
in regard to the numerous deaths among the cattle of the inhabitants of his district, 
and that eight to ten a day were dying. Mr. John L. Hancock, of the firm of Cragin 



84 DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

& Co., Chicago, at once induced the Pork Packers' Association to appoint a commission, 
consisting of Mr. W. E. Richardson, Dr. Blaney, and myself, to visit the localities where 
the disease had appeared, and report on the matter. 

We accordingly started on the evening of the 29th of July, and prosecuted inquiries 
at Tolono, Farina, and Cairo, returning to Chicago on the 4th of August. On the 5th I 
was requested to continue my investigations for the Department of Agriculture, and, with 
the Commissioner's consent, had the advantage of continued, earnest cooperation on the 
part of Mr. W. E. Richardson, and Mr. H. D. Emery, editor of the Prairie Parmer. 
Both these gentlemen brought to bear a knowledge of the country and the cattle trade 
which materially aided me in my inquiries, and they have favored me with their advice 
and assistance up to the completion of the present report. 

In accordance with tlie instructions received, I aimed at determining the following 
points : 

1. The extent and nature of the Texan cattle traffic, and the state of health of the 
Texan cattle. 

2. The circumstances under which these animals communicate disease to the stock of 
the West and other parts north of the Gulf States. 

3. The history of the Texan fever, as it spreads over the States. 

4. The symptoms, post-mortem appearances, and nature of the so-called Spanish or 
Texan fever. 

5. The means to be adopted for the prevention of the disease, and the cure of the 
sick animals. 

My investigations have extended over the States of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, 
Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, and these enable me to speak very positively as to the 
nature of the disease and the means which must be adopted to prevent it. 

In the present report it is my intention to restrict myself to the annexed heads : 

1. Definition of the disease. 

2. Symptoms. 

3. Post-mortem appearances. 

4. Causes and nature of the disease. 

5. Curative treatment. 

6. Prevention. 

DEFINITION. 

The S2)lcnic or periodic fever, commonly known as Texas fever, Spanish fever, or 
cattle fever, and which has been observed wherever and whenever cattle from the States 
on the Gulf of Mexico have been driven north during the summer months, is a disease 
peculiar to the ox tribe, which has never been described as attacking the southern cattle, 
and which occurs, in a more or less latent form, among them. Its distinguishing features 
have been most marked in the cattle of Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, 
Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana, wherever these have grazed on pastures previously or simulta- 
neously occupied by herds from Texas and Florida. It is, so far as we have yet ascertained, 
incapable of communication by the simple contact of sick with healthy animals; and, in 
the strict sense of the terms, is neither contagious nor infectious. It is an enzootic disorder, 
probably due to the food on which southern cattle subsist, whereby the systems of these 



THE SPLENIC FEVEU. 85 

animals become charged with deleterious principles, that are afterward propagated and 
dispersed by the excreta of apparently healthy as well as of obviously sick stock. It is not 
one of the epizootics proper, and in its origin and distribution differs from the plagues due 
to specific animal poisons which are common in various parts of the Old World and the 
New. The malady is probably mcapable of communication by inoculation, and the flesh, 
blood, and secretions of such cattle have been handled and consumed by human beings 
without the manifestation of untoward results. 

In Texas, cattle of all ages, from the time they begin to graze, are afflicted with the 
malady in a somewhat latent and mild form. Early in the year many animals die, espe- 
cially when the wet deteriorates the grasses ; and the mortality, of which any one can 
gain evidence in crossing Texan prairies and seeing the carcasses, is ascribed to poverty. 
It is, however, a feature everywhere that cattle do not attain the same weight in the South, 
even on the best grasses, that they do in northern latitudes ; and this is, no doubt, 
accounted for by the uniform signs of irritation and even erosions of the stomach, enlarged 
spleen, fatty liver, and sometimes ecchymosis in the kidneys. 

The disease in its acute form is characterized during life by a long and variable period 
of incubation, which is generally of five to six weeks' duration. The temperature of 
the body then rises, the secretions are checked, and indications of depression and list- 
lessness are afforded by drooping head, depressed ears, arched back, approximation of limbs, 
and indisposition to move, or to rise when down. The fasces, usually dry, are sometimes 
blood-stained ; and the urine almost invariably becomes of a dark port-wine color, and is 
retained for hours, and then evacuated in inconsiderable quantities. Frequent pulse, hur- 
ried breathing, and tremors are almost invariable sympttoms ; and, according to the sever- 
ity of the attack, there is more or less paralysis, which partially affects the hind quar- 
ters, the fore quarters, or both. From implication of the cerebellum there is occasionally 
a defective coordination of movement ; and, when the brain proper is involved, the animal 
either lies comatose, or is delirious. 

In the first case there is more or less blindness, and in the second a wild, staring gaze, 
and the greatest restlessness. Animals recover, especially if from the South; but the 
communicated disorder among northern stock is extremely fatal ; and, in many forms, 
destroys every animal exposed to its ravages. Death usually occurs about the third or the 
fourth day from the time the animal is very obviously sick ; but probably not for ten or 
twelve days from the first indications to be obtained by the thermometer. The symptoms 
of approaching death are usually great prostration, the animal lying and refusing to rise, 
retention of the urine, the head occasionally drawn forcibly round, especially to the right 
side, and the muscles of the neck twitching without much intermission. ■ After death there 
is marked cadaveric rigidity ; the skin and subcutaneous tissues are usually sound ; but 
effusions of serum, and sometimes of blood, have been witnessed under the lower jaw and 
sternum. The respiratory organs are commonly healthy, but in some cases the lungs are 
somewhat ecchymosed, and more frequently there is partial interlobular emphysema. The 
heart is frequently blood-stained both on the inner and the outer aspects. The peritoneum 
is sometimes ecchymosed, and, in one instance, was found to contain a large amount of 
free, coagulated blood. The digestive organs, from the mouth to the fourth stomach, are, 
as a rule, healthy. The fourth stomach, or abomasum, is, with rare exceptions, the seat 
of distinct lesions, viz., dark redness, ecchymosis, yellow granular-looking eruptions, and 



86 J)EPAUTMENT OF AGIIICULTUEE. 

erosions of the cardiac end ; tlie pyloric end is of more normal color, but frequently the 
seat of extensive superficial erosions, penetrating the substance of the mucous mem- 
brane, to which, wherever an abrasion exists, food usually adheres. The small intestine . 
is generally the seat of punctiform or ramified redness throughout its whole extent ; and 
blood extravasations are common in the csecum, colon, and rectum. The liver is often 
congested, and the gall-bladder distended with viscid bile. The spleen is two, three, or 
even five times its natural size ; and, according to the duration and severity of the attack, 
is more or less broken up and disintegrated in its internal structure. In one case the 
spleen had given way at its base, and hemorrhage had taken place into the peritoneum. 
The kidneys and suprarenal capsules are usually congested. The mucous membrane of 
the urethra, at its origin in the pelves of the renal lobules, is often the seat of extensive 
ecchymosis. The urinary bladder is usually very much distended with bloody urine, which 
never coagulates spontaneously, and only under the action of heat and nitric acid. The 
constant and pathognomonic lesion of this disease is the enlargement and even disintegra- 
tion of the spleen, with redness and erosion of the stomach. The blood is always more or 
less affected, being anaemic, and the functions of nutrition are disturbed. In its course in 
the South, it resembles the periodic fevers of man ; is usually sub-acute in form, and varies 
in intensity at different times. 

I propose to designate this disease the Splenic Fever of Cattle, for the reason that 
the disease is readily distinguished, as a rule, by the enlargement of the spleen, coupled, 
no doubt, with other lesions. It is an enzootic disease, allied and corresponding to 
the endemic periodic fevers of man, for which the Southern States are remarkable ; and 
it may be deemed prudent to use a more general expression than splenic fever, viz., that 
of periodic fever of cattle. Splenic fever is readily prevented, in all cattle north of the 
Gulf States, by withdrawing them, during the summer months, from the pastures and 
roads on which southern cattle have traveled and fed. The prevention of the disease in 
Texas would call for a further and more extended inquiry into all the local causes in oper- 
ation ; but, generally speaking, the condition of soils and grasses might be altered by 
thorough cultivation, drainage, deep plowing, etc. In Texas I have found that feeding on 
corn tends to modify the conditions of cattle, and to invigorate their constitutions; and much 
may be expected from the corn-feeding system only recently introduced on a comprehen- 
sive scale. 

No specific means of cure have been discovered for the malady ; and palliative meas- 
ures consist in allowing animals, which sufier from the acute form of the disease, abundant 
mucilaginous drinks, neutral salts, and occasional diffusible stimulants. Animals have 
recovered when left to nature, as, indeed, also when they have been profusely bled and 
purged. 

SYMPTOMS. 

Splenic or periodic fever evidently occurs in two forms, and its course may be sub- 
divided into four stages. 

The first form is insidious, latent, and usually the most fatal one. There are few fevers 
that do not, at times, attack animals in such a way as to produce so little general disturb- 
ance as to prevent their recognition in the living animal. Cases of this description occur 
in rinderpest. I have alluded to them in my official report on the lung plague, the con- 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. ^7 

tagious bovine pleuropneumouia of Europe, and have witnessed them in outbreaks of 
small-pox in sheep ; but in enzootic maladies, and especially in the various forms of anthrax, 
it is not unfrequently found in post-mortems of animals from districts where such diseases 
arise, that the healthiest and strongest have suffered or are suif'ering organic changes 
which a special systemic vigor or constitutional resistance hides so long as the animals are 
in life. 

Whether we study the malady as seen by me in Texas, or on Smoky Hill, in Kansas, 
where a sudden shock to the system of a steer, on the occasion of its being stampeded, 
developed symptoms and induced death; or look to the other animals, apparently fresh 
and grazing, which indicated an abnormally high temperature of the body, it is evident 
that a large herd, traveling from the region whence splenic fever is propagated, carries 
not only the active cause of such propagation in the systems of animals composing it, but 
the evidence of specific disease induced, which remains for an indefinite time latent and 
unobserved. 

During the early part of our investigations we could not fail to be forcibly struck by 
the apparently healthy condition of the vast herds of Texan steers which had scattered a 
most deadly poison on the pastures of Illinois and Indiana; and even our dissections, limited 
as they necessarily were, failed to elicit the truth. But the insjjection of vast numbers 
of Texan cattle in Kansas and in the Chicago slaughter-houses has proved that appear- 
ances may be very deceptive; and I consider that the abnormal weight of the spleen in 
southern cattle, coupled, as such an indication is, with gastric redness and erosions, pale 
blood, and the not unfrequent presence of bloody urine in the bladder, demonstrates that 
splenic fever often, and indeed usually, occurs in a latent form among southern herds, 
which communicate the disease; and none but a trained expert, thermometer and scalpel 
in hand, can declare positively that any stock is in the enjoyment of perfect health. 

We are almost warranted in believing that the latent causes of splenic fever are 
recognizable by the elevation of temperature; but this is a symptom of all fevers, and it 
is only by studying this condition in relation to many other circumstances — such as the 
source whence stock is derived, the evidence of some unusual mortality, and the post- 
mortem indications of certain animals in a herd, concerning which there may be suspi- 
cions — that it is possible to determine the presence of splenic fever in its occult form. 

The stages into which any case of splenic fever may be subdivided, and which are 
readily recognizable in well-developed instances of the disease, are: 
I. The incubative stage. 
II. The stage of invasion. 

III. The congestive or bleeding stage. 

IV. Termination. 

I. The incubative stage. — The stage of incubation has not been satisfactorily deter- 
mined in individual cases; that is to say, it has been impossible, as yet, to obtain experi- 
mental facts which, as in the case of rinderpest and variola ovina, enable us to state 
positively that, from the date of contamination of an animal by the poison, so many days 
elapse before the manifestation of the disease, and that such period cannot be prolonged 
beyond a definite and ascertained limit; nevertheless there are important data which 
indicate that, from the period of arrival of a Texan herd on any distant or on any defined 
pasture, five to six weeks elapse before the disease appears in the indigenous stock, grazing 



gg DKPAKTMENT OF AGEICULTUKB. 

witli or after the southern cattle. It is proved that the animals may simply pass leisurely 
over a road or prairie, feeding as they move along, and, without remaining for any length 
of time on any portion of the ground they traverse, leave behind them sufficient poison 
to destroy all or nearly all the cattle which continue to feed upon it. In such cases the 
disease usually takes more than a month to attain its full development. There are 
instances on record which seem to indicate that the incubative stage may be shorter, and 
we have met with others where it was reported that the disease appeared in a week from 
the date of importation of Texan stock; but, as a rule in such reports, the whole facts 
are not before us, and it is not safe to draw any conclusions from exceptional cases. 
For instance, in the Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture for April, 1867, it 
is reported from Osage County, Kansas, that about the 1st of August, 1866, the disease 
made its appearance at Burlingame : 

The first ca.se that occurred was that of an ox which belonged to a logging team of seven yoke. This ox, on .account 
of his breach}' ])ro])ensities, was kept at night in a stable and watered from a well of pure water. When not at work 
in the day time lie was staked out to grass, with a long rope. About two weeks before he was attacked with the 
disease a herd of Texas cattle came along, and were stopped and fed around him for an hour or more. Soon after, the 
rest of this team were attacked, and all died but one, which escaped the disease. 

The reporter from Bates County, Missouri, says: "The disease is never seen until ten 
days to two weeks after the Texas cattle have passed through the country." 

Texan cattle began to arrive at Cairo on the 23d of April, 1868, and the first case 
concerning which we could get reliable reports occurred on the 1st of June. At Tolono 
the largest body of Texan cattle arrived toward the end of May, and the disease broke 
out on the 27th of July. One gentleman of Tolono gave accommodations one night to 
three hundred Texan steers, on the 25th of June, and the disease appeared among his 
stock on the 28th of July. At Farina two hundred and fifty Texan cattle were placed 
with fifty Illinois steers on the 10th of May, and the disease appeared among the latter 
on or about the 15th of July. Near Sodorus, a farmer had his cattle grazing on the 
prairie over which Texan cattle passed on the 1st of June, and his stock commenced 
dying on the 28th of July. In Champaign County, Texan cattle were placed on the prairie 
on the 15th of June, and the indigenous stock began to die on the 3d of August, twenty 
out of thirty-eight head dying in four days, that is to say, by August 7th, the date of my 
inspection. 

Our experience agrees with the cases recorded, where dates are given with some 
care. Thus, in the Agricultural Report for 1867, the reporter from Oldham County. 
Kentucky, says: 

The 24th day of June, 1860, there were driven on my farm, to stay one night, about tifty head of Texas cattle. 
■Some forty <ljiys after they left, about the 18th of August, the disease broke out among my milch cows and heifers 
and work cattle. 

Thus we see that thirty to forty days usually elapse between the placing of Texan stock 
on a pasture and the manifestation of disease to the stock owners of the neighborhood. 

The first indication which attracts special attention is usually the death of a cow or 
steer. It is evident that this very imperfectly defines the length of the incubative stage, 
as in all probability the native stock is not instantly poisoned, and then the disease is active 
some days before symptoms, such as an ordinary farmer may detect, or deaths occur. 
It is probable, however, that eighteen to twenty-five days are usually required for the poi- 
son to exert any marked influence on an animal's health, and then the second stage occurs. 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 89 

II. The period of invasion. — My examination of animals in apparent health, picked 
out of a diseased herd, indicates that the invasion of the malady is characterized by an 
elevation of temperature. Here we have some similarity to rinderpest ; but since there 
is not the same uniformity in the length of the incubative stage in splenic fever that there 
is in the Russian murrain, it is probably more common to find steers with a normal tem- 
perature in a herd infected with the former than when infected with the latter disease. 

The first opportunity I had of testing this matter was on the 31st of July, at Tolono, 
where we saw the first animal of a herd, a yearling, lying dead. I began by examining a 
well-bred short-horn cow in blooming condition, and found her temperature to be 106° 
Fahrenheit; second was 106.5° F. ; third 106.7° F. ; fourth 106.7° F. ; fifth 106.1° F.; 
sixth 107.2° F. ; seventh 106.7° F. ; eighth 107.2° F. ; ninth 104.2° F. ; tenth 106.7° F. 

At Junction City I examined the healthiest-looking animals of an infected herd, and 
noted the following temperatures with one of Cassella's self-registering thermometers 
First 104.6° F. ; second 106.6° F. ; third 102.8° F. ; fourth 107.7° F. ; fifth 103° F. 
sixth 102.4° F. ; seventh 105.8° F. ; eighth 103.4° F. ; ninth 107.2° F. ; tenth 102.2° F. 
eleventh 107.8° F. ; twelfth 102.6° F. ; thirteenth 103° F. ; fourteenth 102.4° F. ; fif- 
teenth 102.6° F. ; sixteenth 102.8° F. ; seventeenth 102.6° F. 

I examined three sick steers in this herd, and found their temperature to be respect- 
ively 104° F , 107.2° F., and 105.8° F. Of the apparently healthy ones no less than six 
indicated a temperature as high as or higher than that of the undoubtedly diseased animals, 
and in all the temperature was greatly exalted. 

On Smoky Hill we inspected cattle in blooming health, so far as external appearances 
would indicate. We had found a case of splenic fever there, and determined to have some 
steers caught with the lasso and examined, with the following result : First 103.4° F. ; 
second 102° F. ; third 103° F. ; fourth 104.2° F. ; fifth 103° F. 

The last temperature was that of a work ox, one which could be handled quietly, and 
it afforded me an opportunity of noticing that the use of the lasso did not sensibly affect 
the temperature. I infer, from a considerable range of observation, that animals are from 
four to six or seven days in the process of sickening, from the earliest indication of fever 
heat to the manifestations of decided symptoms of disease. 

III. The bleeding or congestive stage. The acute or active stage of the disease is 
characterized by a series of well-defined symptoms which last for two, three, four, and even 
six days. 

GENERAL APPEARANCE. 

The ears of the animal droop, the gait is sluggish, and secretions are somewhat checked. 
In cows yielding milk there is a sudden diminution in the amount by one-half, more or less. 
At first the animal eats, ruminates occasionally, and its paunch appears full ; but soon 
there is a disposition to lie down ; and, wherever pools exist, the sick cattle are apt to lie 
in the water. It has been said that one of the surest premonitory symptoms is a cough. This 
does not accord with my experience. The depressed head, drooping ears, arched back, 
hollow flanks, tendency to draw the hind legs under the belly, and knuckling over at the 
fetlocks behind, are early and very marked symptoms. The skin is dry and rigid ; the 
fgeces not materially affected except in a few cases, which show early slight hemor- 
12 



90 



DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTURE. 



rhage ; a small, delicate blood-clot is apt to be seen on the surface of the droppings; 
at first the urine is clear. Many cases are, it is true, not observed till the urine is bloody ; 
but the urine remains of its natural color in probably ten or fifteen per cent, of the cases, 
and is not usually one of the earliest signs which a veterinarian can detect. 

The visible mucous membranes are rather pallid. I have seen a turgid appearance 
of the membrane of the nose, with discharge of glairy mucus ; but any decided redness is 
usually confined to the folds of the rectal membrane, seen when animals defecate. 

The pulse is frequent. In the early stages it is hard and wiry. It becomes more 
feeble, the artery is easily compressed, and in many instances, as death approaches, it is 
not possible to take the pulse at the jaw. So far as frequency is concerned, I have found 
it to vary from sixty to one hundred and twenty, and even more. In two cases, where 
the animals were lying with their heads stretched around over the right shoulder, and 
stupefied, the pulse was quite imperceptible at the jaw, and the heart-beats numbered one 
hundred and twenty. 

Thermometric tests are of great value in the active stage of splenic fever. There 
is a considerable difference between cases ; and, in all jorobability, this depends on 
the extent to which blood-extravasations occur. The temperature is high at the com- 
mencement of the attack ; but, as death approaches, and bloody urine flows, it is very 
perceptibly reduced. 

The annexed table indicates the ascertained temperature of sixty cases : 



F. 


F. 


F. 


F. 


F. 


y. 


F. 


F. 


F. 


F. 


o 





o 


c 


o 


u 


o 


o 


o 


o 


104.4 


106.0 


107.2 


106.1 


103.1 


107.2 


106.5 


107. 


103.0 


106.5 


103.1 


106.5 


106.7 


100. 5 


106. 


105. 8 


107. 


105.8 


104.5 


104.7 


98.6 


107.4 


104.2 


106.1 


101.0 


104.6 


104.4 


106. 7 


107.2 


107.0 


lOG.O 


106.7 


106.7 


102. 5 


lOfl.7 


106.6 


105. 


99.0 


103.8 


105.4 


102.5 


107.0 


101.3 


104.9 


10.-). 5 


107.4 


100. 7 


104. 8 


105.0 


105.8 


98 6 


106.0 


106.7 


103.6 


104.0 


99.8 


103. 5 


107.4 


106.0 


107.0 



To the touch the temperature of the body varies much. It is not at all unusual to 
have great heat of the poll, of the ears, and horns, and of the extremities. At other times 
the limbs, and especially the hind ones, are cold ; and the general surface of the body, 
which is hot in the earlier stages of the disease, has a tendency to cool as death approaches. 
The breathing is accelerated, and sometimes labored. In some animals, witli great rest- 
lessness and tendency to delirium, I have found the respirations as high as one hundred 
per minute ; whereas, in comatose animals, they have been slow, deep, and stertorous. 
On an average, however, the movement of the flanks has indicated simply increased fre- 
quency, reaching sixty respirations per minute in some cases. 

The nervous phenomena are often very marked. In some the muscles of the flanks 
and thighs are seen to be constantly trembling. In others there is decided and continuous 
twitching of the cervical muscles. In nearly all, when an attempt is made to walk, tliere 
is evidence of feebleness in the hind limbs, which are rolled from side to side as the animal 
staggers along. When lying down and wishing to rise, it is found that several efforts 
have to be made before the hind quarters can be fairly raised from the ground ; and then, in 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 91 

attempting to extend the fore limbs, great difficulty is experienced, and the animal often 
sinks to the ground. In one case, which I saw near Tolono, the animal seemed fixed to 
the soil, from inability to direct its muscles. With assistance it was got up, and its fore 
legs were propped out; but, when driven, the action of its limbs was quite irregular, and 
the animal faltered along, to drop again almost immediately. This inability to control 
the voluntary muscles, this defective coordination of movement, prevails in a less degree 
in a considerable number of cases. Great listlessness and even stupor are very common 
indications of early death. The most singular manifestations of these conditions occurred 
in two cows. One was lying with her head forcibly drawn upon the riglit shoulder, and 
the cervical muscles twitching as in a severe attack of chorea. In another the animal 
had the same position of the head and jerking of the muscles ; but she was lying motion- 
less on her belly, with all four legs sprawling, as if they had yielded and slipped out 
without an effort, as the body sank to the ground. The state of the secretions is usually 
a good index in the course of the disease. There is little tendency to free perspiration, 
and the only remarkable change of the skin is cedema which distends it in some cases be- 
low the jaw, or under the sternum. Hide-bound and costive, the animals indicate the 
febrile crisis by slight blood-staining of the fa3ces and by hsematuria. The latter is com- 
monly profuse, until the animal is so far paralyzed in its hind-quarters that there is retention. 

With rare exceptions the bladder is found distended, and weighs, with its bloody 
contents, ten, twelve, or fourteen pounds ; this, too, when the animal has urinated im- 
mediately before or in the act of death. Under the microscope the urine presents no 
tints, but only amorphous deposits of hsematine and some epithelial cells. From first to 
last it coagulates by the aid of heat and nitric acid, except in those cases where it retains 
its normal color. 

The milk secretion is all but entirely suspended, and the little which is drawn is 
dense, and mainly composed of cream. No change of a definite kind can be detected by 
a microscope. 

IV. Termination. — In the majority of cases depression and listlessness increase, the 
pulse increases in frequency, the respiration becomes labored, the animal heat reduced to 
100° and to 98° F. ; and the animal stretches out on the ground, on which it has been 
lying motionless for some time, and dies without a struggle. 

In exceptional cases the febrile symptoms subside, the secretion of milk in cows is 
restored, the color of the urine becomes paler and paler, till it is normal, and the animal 
recovers in ten days or a fortnight, indicating its previous condition only by a stiftness of 
gait and considerable emaciation. A month or six weeks is required before evidence of 
thriving is obtained. 

I have seen animals in apparently a convalescent state and manifesting considerable 
appetite ; after distending their stomachs on grass, they have appeared uneasy, the fever 
has returned, diarrhoea set in, and death occurred within thirty-six to forty-eight hours. 
Such accidents are undoubtedly dependent on the lesions of the fourth stomach and intes- 
tines. They are gastro-enteric complications, and not indications of a true relapse. 



92 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 

The structural lesions which occur in splenic fever are so numerous and various that 
I deem it advisable to transcribe the notes of a sufficient number of examinations in sup- 
port of a summary, which may be considered sufficient for practical purposes by many 
who may refer to this report. 

That form of splenic fever which is mostly latent, and seen among southern cattle, is 
not recognizable after death by .the condition of skin, muscular system, or, in many cases, 
even by the mucous membrane, with the exception of that of the stomach. More or less, 
however, the blood extravasations, congestions, and blood-stained urine have been found ; 
but these would very rarely have been noticed but for the plan, suggested by me, of inspect- 
ing all slaughtered cattle, and carefully weighing the spleens. 

Dr. Ranch, the medical officer of the city of Chicago, no sooner ascertained my wishes 
than he arranged for the supervision of all slaughter-houses in Chicago, and for weighing, 
in the first instance, all the spleens, and, later, all the livers as well as spleens of slaugh- 
tered cattle. To Dr. Ranch's energy and care we are, therefore, indebted for facts which 
none but a medical health officer, armed with the necessary powers, could well have 
obtained. As the tables can serve only for purposes of reference, it has been thought 
proper to publish them in an appendix; but the facts brought to light admit of being 
readily stated, and it is due to Dr. Rauch that I should quote his report to the board of 
health of Chicago, read on the ISth of September, in demonstration of the valuable conclu- 
sions he was enabled to show very shortly after adopting this method of observation. 

Tlie winglit, ft'cl, ami toxtiirc of the spleen aud the coudition of the urine have been found to be almost infallible 
in diagnosing the disease. Since the investigation commenced over two thousand spleens have been weighed. During 
the lirst few days of the investigation the spleens only were weighed, but as your committee began better to compre- 
hend the importance of the cjucstions involved, and the value of the facts to be learned, the livers were also ordered to 
be examined at the same time. Of these about five hundred have already been weighed. The committee have only 
had time to present the average of the three dilierent kinds of cattle slaughtered here. 



Aggi-egato -weight. 
Average 



175 native 
spleens. 



175 Texan 
spleens. 



Pounds. 
260 

1.48 



Pounds. 
441 
2.52 



175 Cherokee (?) 
spleens. 



Pounds. 
382+ 
2.18 



175 native 
livers. 



Pounds. 
2, 227i 
12. 72 



175 Texan 
livers. 



Pounds. 
2, 132+ 
12. 18 



175 Cherokee (f ) 
livers. 



Pounds. 

1,878J 
10.73 



The above were taken indiscriminately, and do not include any of the marked oases that have fallen under our ob- 
servation. During tlie past week spleens have been founil in Texan and in Cherokee cattle that were as much disorgan- 
ized as any that were found in tlie native cattle that died from the disease. The important i)art tliiit the spleen performs 
in the economy of cattle will be better appreciated when it is recollected that its enlargement and disorganization are 
always present in this disease, Avhile tlii' condition of the other organs may be regarded as concomitant. The liver 
wa-s at one time supposed to show evidcno's of enlargement and increase of weight in this disease, but this does l)y no 
me.ins neces-sarily follow, as in some of the most marked cases no change whatever in the size of the liver was percep- 
tible, lu fact, a-s a general rule, it has been found that, whenever the animal was in a good condition, the spleen 
weighed less and the liver more than when the opposite was the case. It was also noticed that in the animals which 
had been driven or transporte<l a great distance the spleen weighed more in proportion than the liver. When the ani- 
mal is in good condition the liver is large ; when there is a depressed or lower condition of vitality the sxdoen is enlarged. 

The annexed table gives the results of calculations based on the tables in the appen- 
dix ; and it is safe to draw conclusions after the careful examination of no less than 4,739 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 



93 



cases. These indicate that the average weights of spleens are in excess in southern cat- 
tle over those observed among western steers, the excess amounting from a half to up- 
ward of one pound. Many of the Texan cattle had spleens weighing over three pounds. 
Some of the so-called Cherokee cattle might be from the Indian Nation, near the Texan 
frontier, but few were from the Cherokee Nation, and many, no doubt, were from Texas. 
This will explain the note of interrogation I have used wherever the term Cherokee has 
been used, in accordance with the information that has been tendered to me. 

It is very important to notice that the earlier observations in August, when the spleens 
alone were weighed, brought out a greater indication of deviations from health in the 
spleens of southern cattle than those made subsequently. Thus the averages were — 





Native. 


Cherokee (?) 


Texan. 




1.38 
1.45 


2.36 
1. 942 


2.83 




2. 531 







It is much to be desired that the weights of internal organs be better determined in 
future in all enzootic diseases and during all seasons. This field of inquiry promises ample 
and valuable results. 





























Cattle in which 




N,atiN 


western cattle. 


Chorokeo (?) i 


attle. 


Texan cattle. 


Generiil totals. 


the spleens alone 




























were weighed. 




















ra 


V. 


-, 






— 






































































m 


1 




= 


t 


u 


t 


1 




ti 




1 


It 
§1 


g1 


H 




t- 


o 


" 


S 


o 


:^ 


S 






s 


S 


g 


S 


r- 


R 






-' 


- 




-" 


" 


■^ 






cf 


m 


■" 


^ 


^ 


" 




Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Total weight, spleens 


375i 


1, 441J 


1, 963i 


577} 


241 


1, 034i 


1, 109i 


69i 


701 


3, 780i 


1, 853. 25 


1, 879.} 


183} 


301} 


530 




1.46 
2,929 


1. 424 
12, 361i 


1.467 
16, 679i 


1.60 
3,731 


1. 585 
1,611 


2.345 
4, 702} 


2.259 
6,070 


2.387 
360 


2.675 
3,139 


1.45 
31, 970J 


1.942 
10, 044} 


2.503 
9,569 


1.39 


2.37 


3.88 


Total weight, livers. 






11.39 


12. 215 


13. 466 


10. 335 


10.6 


10.66 


12.30 


12. 413 


11.98 


12. 263 


10.529 


12. 236 














The examination, after death, of cattle in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas 
indicates that the usual post-mortem appearances, in well-marked cases of splenic fever, 
are as follows: 

The skin, very often infested with ticks, is occasionally seen studded with dried drops 
of blood, as if the animal had sweated blood in dying Then small blood clots have 
been found freely distributed over the neck, trunk, and limbs, and especially between the 
thighs. 

On removincr the skin, blood-extravasations, or serous infiltrations, are sometimes 
found beneath the lower jaw and brisket. The subcutaneous areolar tissue, as a rule, is 
pallid and not congested, as in anthrax. 

The muscular system is normal, and I have not been able to distinguish any devia- 
tion from the common appearance of slaughtered cattle, if the animals are examined im- 
mediately after death. 



94 DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

The or^fans of respiration are, in many instances, healthy. The respiratory passages 
are always so. The lungs, sometimes the seat of cadaveric congestion, on the side on which 
the dead body has been lying, are occasionally ecchymosed, and the pleura is of a dark pur- 
plish color, over distinct lobules which are found intensely congested, but never hepatized 
throughout their substance. I have not found a single portion of lung tissue which would 
not float on water. 

In nearly half the cases the collapse of the lungs, when the chest is opened, is imper- 
fect; and according to the extent of interference with this collapse do we find interlob- 
ular emphysema. The areolar tissue between the lobules is blown up with air; and on 
the outer aspect of the lung, especially on the arteries and middle lobes, a beaded and 
streaked appearance, owing to the distension of the connective structure, is striking and 
well marked. The pleurte are rarely found changed ; but occasionally, scattered over the 
mediastinal reflections or on the diaphragm, are well-marked ecchymoses. 

The pericardium is usually empty, but I have found it considerably distended with 
bloody serum. The surface of the heart is almost invariably blood-stained to a greater or 
less extent. The most common seat of these ecchymoses is on the apex, or the auricular 
appendages. In the right side a small blood clot is very commonly found in animals that 
have been lying dead for several hours, and the left side is found empty. Both ventricles, 
and sometimes even the auricles, may be found entirely ecchymosed ; but, as a rule, the 
extravasations are most marked and extensive in the left ventricle, and especially on 
the fleshy pillars. 

DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 

The mouth, pharynx, and oesophagus are always healthy. The rumen is usually full 
of food, and its coats healthy. The mucous membi'ane alone has been found congested in 
two cases. 

The recticulum, or second stomach, containing semi-fluid material, has been often 
found reddened; but especially in cows which had swallowed nails, wires, needles, or other 
foreign objects, that are so commonly found in the second stomach of cattle. In two cases 
wires had perforated the recticulum and diaphragm, and in one the pericardium was adhe- 
rent to the diaphragm, and injured. 

The omasum, or third stomach, is almost invariably in a normal condition; and 
whereas there are some instances in which it is considerably distended, and the food packed 
dry between the folds, there is no appreciable difference between the condition in which 
we have found it in our numerous dissections, and the state in which we should expect to 
find it in a similar number of healthy cattle. 

The abomasum, or fourth stomach, is almost invariably the seat of distinct and spe- 
cific changes. On opening it, throughout its whole length it is found varying from a pink 
to a deep blood-red color over its cardiac end. The pyloric end is more commonly of a 
natural color. But although there is this marked difference in the general aspect of the 
two sections of the abomasum, both present further and very characteristic morbid appear- 
ances. In the cardiac end, three different forms of lesion are seen, in different cases. In 
some the folds, and even the membrane between the folds, are studded irregularly with 
minute petechise of a dark, blood-red color. Each petechia is like a flea-bite, though 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 95 

somewhat smaller, and darker in color. Its center is dark, and sometimes softened or 
perforated. The areola around this center is well defined and regular, offering a marked 
contrast to the surrounding membrane, which, though usually congested and reddened, is 
not of the same depth of color as the petechial spot. In other cases the reddened folds 
are studded with minute yellowish-gray granulations, due to a change in the epithelium, 
which becomes swollen, and has a tendency to drop off. Each granulation does not usually 
exceed the size of a pin's head. This appearance is most marked where the folds are 
most congested; and in some cases, where the congestion is slight, it requires a somewhat 
careful inspection to recognize the presence of this change. Scattered throughout the folds, 
especially near their free edges, we find the third change, which consists of marked ero- 
sions, as if the epithelium had been peeled off with a sharp finger-nail. 

The margins of the erosion are well defined, and of the color of the surrounding mem- 
brane, or they are often paler. The center of each erosion is of a blood-red or brownish 
color. 

It is very rare to find the pyloric end, however natural its general aspect, without 
some well-defined patch, from which the epithelium is stripped and a dark, granular surface 
left, to which the green food adheres more or less firmly. On the pyloric gland this ero- 
sion, as frequently observed, is of a zigzag form, and tolerably deep fissures into the mem- 
brane give to the gland a shriveled and wrinkled appearance. 

I have seen nearly the whole of the mucous surface in the pyloric antrum eroded; 
but more commonly there are three, four, or more isolated patches, varying from half an 
inch to even two inches in diameter 

The duodenum is often of a deep red color. Sometimes its mucous membrane is 
deeply tinged with bile. At others it is the seat of scattered ecchymoses, less numerous 
and regular than those on the folds of the abomasum. 

The jejunum and ileum may be reddened throughout on their mucous surface. Some- 
times the redness is in patches. It is puuctiform ; and, in parts, ecchymoses heighten the 
general color. In one case I found one of Peyer's glands somewhat tumefied, but free 
from any deposit around, and simply turgid and congested. The ceecum is often exten- 
sively ecchymosed, especially on the free margin of the effaceable mucous folds, so that, 
when the membrane is stretched, it has a striped appearance. The stripes may be of a 
bright or rusty-red color, but are often blackened, as we so commonly find, with blood 
extravasations in the large intestine of cattle. The ileo-colic fold is usually ecchymosed, 
tumefied, or of a blackish color. Scattered petechite are not uncommon, and the fundus 
of the caecum may be found the seat of marked, ramified redness. The general appear- 
ance of the mucous lining of the colon is often the same. In the rectum the folds are 
commonly ecchymosed, and we have found free but delicate clots adherent to the mem- 
brane. The blackened appearance of the interstitial extravasations is nearly as common 
in the rectum as in the cascum. 

The liver, so often the seat of chronic lesion in cattle, such as thickening and indu- 
ration of the capsule in spots, is often the seat of fatty degenerations, and is found con- 
gested and heavy in some cases ; whereas the reverse holds good in others. Reference to 
the w-eights of the livers will show that there is no relation between any distinct state of 
the organ, as ascertained by the scales, and the existence of splenic fever. 



96 DEPARTMENT OV AGRICULTURE. 

The gall blivddcr is usually distended with viscid bile, and its lining membrane is at 
times the seat of ramified redness. The coats of the gall bladder have been found, in 
several cases, much thickened by interstitial, serous infiltration, which, from being retained 
in the areola? of the connective tissue, had the appearance of a gelatinous mass. 

The spleen is uniformly enlarged, as indicated by the many observations noted in the 
tables published in the appendix. The weight varies from two to ten pounds. It rarely 
exceeds six or seven. One of the largest Texan spleens, weighing eight pounds, and found 
by one of Dr. Kauch's inspectors in a slaughtered animal, measured twenty-seven inches 
in length, seven and one-half inches in width, and three inches in thickness at its thickest 
part. 

The sjilcen is of a purplish color, its peritoneal surface sometimes ecchymosed ; and 
on making an incision into its capsule the pulp oozes out. A section shows the complete 
effacement of the usual granular look, which is due to the Malpighian bodies, so well seen 
in the ox's spleen. The scraping with a knife readily forces out the currant-jelly-like pulp, 
and leaves the trabecuhx; free and clear. In thirty notably diseased spleens, Dr. Mann- 
heimes found only two in which the trabeculse were firm and sound. They were generally 
destroyed and completely undistinguishablc from any other part of the tissues of the organ. 

URINARY ORG.VNS. 

The kidneys may be perfectly healthy, but are most commonly of a dark brownisli- 
red color, from intense congestion. The pelvis of each may be normal ; but, in the earliest 
stages, I have found linear interstitial blood deposits in the mucous membrane. At first 
these are of a bright arterial hue, but they become more extensive and dark in color as 
the disease advances. Whenever there is bloody urine in the bladder, the pelvis of each 
kidney contains some of the same. In one case I found one of the lobes of the right 
kidney fluctuating on pressure, and, when opened, it was found to contain a cyst, distended 
by a couple of ounces of dark, bloody urine. In the majority of cases the urinary blad- 
der is found very much distended with blood-colored urine. Its mucous surface may be 
normal and pallid, but is sometimes congested ; and, in several cases, I have found it 
studded with very minute ccchymoses, which have existed either in the fundus or ut the 
cervix, or have been thickly disseminated over the whole of the internal lining. The 
organs of generation are found healthy, and cows with calf have always retained the foetus, 
■whether it was a few days or several weeks old. In one case I found the peritoneal sur- 
face of the womb studded with ecchymoses precisely similar to those seen on the internal 
surface of the bladder, and in another, the broad ligaments of the uterus had a marked 
appearance of the same description. 

NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

In all the cases in which partial paralysis of the hind quarters alone was marked, 
we found the upper cornua of the gray matter in the lumbar region reddened ; and the 
microscopical examination showed blood-extravasations and staining of the nerve cells. 
This appearance could be traced in all parts of the cord, in cases of more general paralysis; 
and, in one instance in which it was most general and marked, there was blood-extrava- 
sation outside the dura mater, beneath the medulla oblongata. The gray matter of the 
medulla was itself slightly blood-stained. On opening the cranium, in one instance, we 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 97 

found the inner surface of the dura rnater studded with bright red spots, similar to the 
small ecchymoses seen in the urinary bladder ; and the spots were distributed over the 
whole of the cranial surface. The pia mater is often congested, and the gray matter of 
the cerebrum and the cerebellum often reddened. The puncta vasculosa, in the oval cen- 
ters, are very marked ; and the lateral ventricles, in one case, contained a little reddish- 
colored serum. Beyond this tendency to congestion and occasional blood extravasation, no 
lesion was discovered in the nervous system ; and both white and gray matter were usually 
firm and not softened. 

SPECIFIC OBSERVATIONS. 

The following group of observations of post-mortem appearances, made in the West 
during the investigations of the summer of 1868, illu.strate this branch of the subject 
more specifically : 

Observation I, July 30, 1868. — Red cow; the property of Mr. A. J. Moore, of 
Tolono, killed by bleeding. Blood flowed freely, and was of a bright arterial hue. The 
skin was removed and the respiratory organs first examined, and found in a normal state. 
The pericardium was opened, and its reflected portion was sound ; the heart of normal 
size and consistency, but studded with punctiform extravasations of blood around the 
apex, on the left auricular appendix. The right cavities were found empty and normal. 
The left were also empty, but there was extensive discoloration of the endocardium over 
the fleshy pillars and the septum. It was of an alternate purple and blood-red tint, and 
on cutting through the endocardium it was found infiltrated with blood This infiltration 
extended in some parts to a sixteenth of an inch in depth beneath the serous membrane. 
The mouth, fauces, oesophagus, and the first three stomachs, were healthy. The fourth 
stomach contained a greenish liquid, and its mucous surface was intensely reddened, with 
the exception of the antrum pylori, which retained its normal color. The folds of the 
cardiac end were thickly studded with ecchymoses, which appeared to have coalesced, and 
the membrane had in many parts given way, so as to induce the appearance of small, 
irregular ulcerations. There was no thickening around the ulcers, nor evidence of pro- 
gressive ulcerated change, but the solutions of continuity seemed due to the discharge of 
epithelium and death of the subjacent membrane in the center of the bloody extravasa- 
tions. The duodenum was of a deep yellow, bile-tinged color. The jejunum and ileum 
were carefully examined throughout their whole extent, and found reddened. Peyer's 
glands were healthy. The caecum was reddened around the ileo-colic opening, and the 
colon had irregular patches of congestion. In the rectum blood extravasations were found 
all along the free margin of the folds. The spleen was of a deep purple hue, weight seven 
and one-half pounds ; and its structure was so disintegrated that a black mass of pulp 
oozed out of the incisions, and with the slightest force nothing remained intact but the 
trabecule. The liver and gall bladder weighed twenty-seven and one-half pounds. They 
were congested, but otherwise apparently healthy. The liver afforded indications of fatty 
change. The kidneys were of a dark color, and contained bloody urine in the pelves. 
The urinary bladder was enormously distended with dark, blood-colored urine, and weighed 
with its contents nineteen pounds. The uterus was healthy, and contained a foetus about 
a month old. The brain and spinal cord were carefully examined. The meninges were 
13 



98 DEPAETMEJfT OF AGEICDLTUKE. 

generally congested, and the posteiior part of the cord, when cut across, indicated very 
decided redness of the superior cornua of gray matter. 

Observation II, July 30, 1868. — Cow; the property of Mr. C. B. Chamberlain, of 
Tolono. This animal was also bled to death and skinned. The thoracic organs were found 
quite healthy. TJie first and the second stomach were likewise normal, but the third was 
somewhat inordinately distended by dry food firmly impacted between its folds. The 
folds themselves were sound. The fourth stomach was congested throughout, but its folds, 
at the cardiac end, were of a deep, modena-red hue. In the vicinity of the pylorus were 
a couple of small patches of erosions of the mucous membrane. The small intestine was 
the seat of ramified redness throughout its entire length. In the large intestine, from the 
csecum to the rectum, there was a dark, inky-looking deposit of blood along the free edge 
of the mucous folds, and between these, at points, the membrane was considerably con- 
gested. The liver was much congested, fatty, and weighed twentj^-one pounds. The 
spleen was of a purple hue, its tissues undergoing disintegration, and it weighed two and 
one-half pounds. The kidneys were dark colored, and the bladder largely distended with 
bloody urine. The spinal cord only of this animal was examined, and the gray matter 
found of a dark red color in the posterior part adjoining the cauda equina. 

Observation III, July 31, 1868. — Two-year-old steer; the property of Mr. Matthews, 
near Tolono. Examined three hours after death. Marked cadaveric rigidity. ' Organs 
of respiration healthy. The heart, of normal size and firmness, was extensively ecchymosed 
on its outer surface, especially down the anterior and the posterior ventricular furrows. 
The right cavities contained a small amount of blood; the left were empty, but the fleshy 
pillars were of a deep purplish tint from extensive ecchymosis. The mouth, pharynx, 
(jesophagus, the first and the second stomach, were healthy. The third stomach was 
considerably distended by dry food. The fourth stomach was the seat of diffuse redness 
over its entire mucous surface, but the depth of color was greatest at the cardiac end. 
Freely dispersed over the surface were small, circumscribed erosions with red areolre round 
them ; and these evidently resulted from ecchyraotic patches, which sloughed in their cen- 
ters. In the pyloric end were several irregular patches of cuticular degenerations. The 
green contents of the stomach adhered to the denuded surfaces. The jejunum was the 
seat of ramified redness over its mucous surface, and a similar congestion partially affected 
the ileum and large intestine. The liver was normal in size and general aspect. The 
spleen was of a dark purple tint, about three times its natural size, and its pulp softened. 
The kidneys were turgid with blood, and the urinary bladder was much distended with 
bloody urine. 

Observation IV, August 1, 1868. — Seven-year-old steer; the property of Mr L. D. 
Ayers, of Farina. This animal was first seen ill on Thursday, the 30th of July, and died at 
noon on the 1st of August. Respiratory passages healthy. On opening the chest it was 
noticed that the lungs were only partially collapsed. They had rather a blanched appear- 
ance, and, on removal from the chest, it was found that through the posterior lobes, and 
all along the upper aspect to the anterior lobes of the lungs, there was well-marked inter- 
lobular emphysema. Incisions in various parts of the emphysematous tissue presented 
the normal aspect of the lobules, with free extravasation of air in the connective tissue 
around them. The lungs weighed fifteen j^ounds. The mediastinal reflections of the 
pleura were closely studded with ecchymoses, and the same appearance pervaded the 



THE SPLENIC FETER. 99 

pleural portious of the same membrane. The pericardial sac contained a little yellow 
serum; and the heart, of normal size, was extensively ecchymosed around the base of 
both ventricles. The right side contained a small quantity of partially clotted blood; 
and the left ventricle, also containing a little dark blood, was the seat of extensive ecchy- 
moses over nearly the whole of its inner aspect. The alimentary canal, from the mouth 
to the third stomach, was in a normal state. The contents of the third stomach were soft 
and moderate in quantity. The cardiac end of the fourth stomach was of a dark red color, 
and its folds thickly studded with small yellowish elevations, having the appearance of 
vesicles, but solid, and apparently consisting of opaque epithelial enlargements. The 
pyloric end was of normal color and free from erosions or other signs of disease. The 
small intestines, of a pinkish hue externally, were intensely reddened on their mucous 
surface. There was general capillary congestion, and the ramified character of the red 
tinge was most marked. One of Peyer's glands had an elevated and somewhat thick- 
ened appearance. The color was rather less deep than that of the adjacent membrane, 
and on making an incision into it there was no evidence of deposit beneath it, or note- 
worthy change in structure. In the ceecum a very marked ecchymosis surrounded the 
ileo-colic opening, and several blood extravasations, well circumscribed and limited in 
extent, existed in the colon and rectum. The liver and gall bladder weighed twenty-nme 
pounds. The tissue of the liver was congested, and betokened active changes in the 
shape of fatty degeneration. The spleen was dark, friable, and weighed eight pounds. 
The two kidneys weighed four and one-quarter pounds, and were of a dark red color. 
The bladder was much distended with bloody urine. Its mucous membrane was congested 
at the fundus. The cranium was opened and its entire contents found abnormally vascu- 
lar. On removing the brain the dura mater was found studded with bright vermilion 
blood spots, about the size of an ordinary pin's head. The medulla oblongata was healthy 
The gray matter in the cerebellum was of a very decided reddish hue ; but the consistence 
of both white and gray matter appeared normal. The cerebrum showed very marked 
puncta vasculosa on making horizontal sections of its hemispheres. 

Observation V, August 1, 1868. — Red cow ; the property of S. F. Randolph, of Fa- 
rina. Died at 2 p. m., and examined at 5 p. m Cadaveric rigidity marked. Respiratory 
passages healthy. On opening the chest it was found that the right lung collapsed im- 
perfectly ; it was palish, and the seat of interlobular emphysema on its upper border, and 
between the middle and inferior lobe. The left lung was somewhat ecchymosed. On the 
surface of half a dozen lobules there was a dark, flea-bitten appearance, which corresponded 
with considerable congestion of the lung tissue within. The structure floated on water, 
and was certainly free from inflammatory deposit. The lungs weighed twelve pounds. 
The heart, of normal size and consistence, w^as freely ecchymosed over its entire outer 
surface. The right ventricle contained a little frothy blood, but was not blood-stained. 
The left ventricle also contained a little dark fluid blood, and was free from ecchymoses.^ 
On opening the left auricular appendix, it was found studded with punctiform petechias. Of 
the alimentary canal, all anterior to the fourth stomach, was healthy, but this organ was of 
a deep red color over the mucous folds of the cardiac end. The antrum pylori was studded 
over its entire surface with irregular erosions, exceeding twenty in number, ^.one of 
these had the granular surface or peculiar edges of true ulcers, but looked like abrasions, 
the epithelium having been removed and the reddened mucous surface more or less dis- 



100 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 

colored by adherent vegetable matter, constituting the base of the solutions of continuity. 
The duodenum was of a dark yellow color, and the areolar tissue around it was oedematous ; 
while the whole internal surface of the small intestines was the seat of ramified redness, 
with marked ecchymoses scattered in large numbers throughout. Some of the blood-stained 
spots had sloughed in their centers. The ileo-colic fold was blackened and tumefied, and 
the longitudinal mucous folds in the colon and rectum were stained with blackened blood 
extravasations. The liver and gall bladder, to all appearances in a healthy state, weighed 
nineteen pounds. The spleen, of a dark color, with a deep red pulp which oozed out of 
incisions made through the capsule, weighed five pounds and four ounces. The kidneys 
weighed two pounds, but, with the exception of urine of a port-wine color in the pelvis of 
each, appeared sound. The bladder was distended with bloody urine, but its coats were of 
a healthy color. The cranial contents appeared unusually vascular, but otherwise healthy. 
The spinal cord was not examined. 

Observation VI, August 6, 1868. — Three-year-old cow; the property of G. F. Byers, 
of Sodorus. Died the night previous to the examination. No cadaveric rigidity. Decom- 
position commenced. On removing the skin it was found that effusion had taken place 
under the sternum. The organs of respiration were found healthy. The heart was some- 
what softened from incipient decay ; both outer and inner surface were the seat of cadaveric 
blood-staining. The entire alimentary canal was found normal, and free from congestion, 
ecchymoses, or erosions. The liver also was sound. The spleen, much enlarged, probably 
four times its natural size, was softened at its base, and blood had flowed freely out during 
the life of the animal, as clots and licjuid blood dropped out of the peritoneum when it 
was first opened. The kidneys were normal, and the bladder wonderfully distended by 
clear-colored urine. It is worthy of note that this cow had been noticed to be sick for 
two days, but discharged clear urine on the evening of the 5th, and did not then appear 
in a dying state. She succumbed suddenly and unexpectedly during the night; and, as 
the post-mortem indicated, from hemorrhage from the spleen. 

Observation VII, August 7, 1868. — Steer; the property of Mr. P. Harris, of Cham- 
paign. Organs of respiration healthy. General aspect of heart normal. Right cavities 
containing a little blood, and free from ecchymoses. On the fleshy pillars of the left ventricle 
there were marked and diffused extravasations of blood. The anterior part of the alimen- 
tary canal, as far down as the third stomach, was quite normal. The fourth stomach was 
slightly reddened; and, at the cardiac end, the folds were studded with small, yellowish 
eminences, as described in a previous case. The pyloric end was the seat of marked and 
numerous erosions. The intestinal tract was quite healthy, with the exception of slight 
redness of the mucous surface of the small intestine. The liver and gall bladder were 
normal. The spleen was at least twice its natural size, of a dark color, and softened struc- 
ture. The kidneys were dark-colored from congestion, and the bladder was very much dis- 
tended with urine of port-wine color. On severing the head from the neck, it was found 
that around the dura mater, in the foramen magnum, there was an exudation of yellowish 
lymph, studded with numerous confluent petechise of a very dark color. On removing 
the brain it was found of normal consistence. The spinal cord in the dorsal and the lum- 
bar region was reddened, especially in the posterior horns of its gray matter. 

Observation VIII, August 7, 1868. — Steer; also the property of Mr. P. Harris, of 
Champaign. Killed for the purpose of dissection. Organs of respiration healthy through- 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 101 

out. Heart slightly ecchymosed oa the outer surface of the ventricles. The right side 
contained a small quantity of fluid blood, with slender clots somewhat adherent to the 
auriculo-ventricular valves. Left ventricle empty and healthy. Pharynx, gullet, the first 
and the second stomach, healthy. The third stomach impacted with dry food. The fourth 
stomach of a deep red color over its cardiac folds, and studded somewhat with small, gray- 
ish eminences of the size of ordinary pins' heads. The mucous surface of the pyloric end, 
wherever it was whole, was of normal color; but it was freely spotted with very distinct 
erosions of irregular shape, dark in the center ; and the largest of these was on the pyloric 
gland, and extending on the transverse fold at the pyloric opening. The duodenum, and 
indeed the entire small intestine, was found with the mucous surface congested. The 
cfecum, colon, and rectum, throughout their entire length, were reddened within, and ecchy- 
moses were freely distributed over their whole interior. The liver and gall bladder were 
normal. The spleen was dark colored, soft, and thrice its natural size. The kidneys were 
somewhat congested, and the urinary bladder, though presenting no abnormal appearance 
of its coats, was distended with bloody urine. 

Observation IX, August 8, 1868. — Small two-year-old steer ; the property of Mr. 
Frank Peters, Scott Township, six miles west of Champaign; had died the previous night, 
and presented the somewhat unusual appearance of dried, clotted drops of blood, each about 
the size of an ordinary drop of water, freely distributed over the neck, flanks, body, and 
limbs. Organs of respiration healthy. Heart beginning to decompose, but showing no signs 
of disease. First three stomachs healthy. The fourth stomach was slightly reddened at 
'its cardiac end ; but its folds were thickly studded with small, grayish eminences, having 
the general appearance of a vesicular eruption. The color of the mucous surface of the 
pyloric antrum was healthy, with the exception of two small, irregular, erosions. The 
small and the large intestine were entirely free from congestion or other indications of 
disease. The liver and gall bladder were sound, and weighed eleven pounds. The 
spleen was freely ecchymosed on its surface, soft and enlarged, weighing three and a half 
pounds. The kidneys were dark colored, and beginning to decompose. The bladder 
was healthy and much distended with bloody urine. The brain and spinal cord were 
healthy. 

Observation X, August 8, 1868. — Four-year-old cow, belonging to the same pro- 
prietor as the last steer. On opening the chest it was found that the lungs collapsed im- 
perfectly ; and that on their dorsal aspect, especially of their posterior lobes, there was 
very marked interlobular emphysema. The external aspect of the heart was normal. 
The right cavities Avere full of dark blood, and indicated cadaveric blood staining of the 
endocardium. The left ventricle, also, contained much dark blood; and its free wall, as 
well as the columnse carnese, was extensively ecchymosed. The first three stomachs were 
healthy. The fourth was the seat of ramified redness on the mucous folds, at the cardiac 
end; and numerous punctiform eminences of yellowish color gave the eruptive appearance 
noticed in previous post-mortem examinations. The pyloric end was normal, and free 
from erosions. Both the large and the small intestine were quite normal. The liver was 
swollen as the result of decomposition, and the gall bladder was distended with normal 
bile. The spleen, of a dark purplish tint and friable structure, weighed five pounds. 
The kidneys were congested, and the urinary bladder distended with bloody urine. On 



102 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICTJLTTJRE. 

severing the head from the neck, a considerable quantity of bloody serum flowed out of 
the meninges. The cranial contents were somewhat congested, but otherwise healthy. 

Observation XI, August 8, 1868. — Three-year-old steer; the property of Mr. , 

of Champaign. Killed by division of spinal cord. Organs of respiration healthy. Heart 
of normal appearance, with the exception of slight ecchymoses in the left ventricle. 
Mouth, fauces, gullet, and first three stomachs healthy. Fourth stomach of a dark 
red color over the folds at the cardiac end, which were thickly studded with small, circu- 
lar ecchymoses; and, wherever these congregated, the epithelium was detached, and the 
membrane exposed of a brownish color. Many of the isolated ecchymoses had abrasions 
in their centers ; and the red areolse around the erosions sometimes spread out irregularly. 
The abraded surface, in various parts, had the green contents of the stomach firmly adher- 
ing to them. The pyloric end was, to great extent, free from congestion, but was studded 
with erosions and zigzag fissures. Three of the abraded spots were much larger than 
the rest, extending from an inch and a half to three inches in length, by an inch to an 
inch and a half in breadth. Over the larger abrasions a scab had formed, to which the 
food was adherent. The irregular ulcers of the edges were red, but flat, and without 
tending to thickening or erosions. The small intestine was congested throughout the fun- 
dus of the CEecum, of a deep red color, and over the whole mucous surface of the colon 
there was ramified redness. In the rectum there was blood extravasation in the substance 
of the mucous membrane, along the margin of the longitudinal folds. The liver and gall 
bladder weighed twenty-one and a half pounds, but offered no sign of morbid lesion, beyond 
fatty change in the gland. The spleen, of a dark color, with softened pulp, weighed five 
and a half pounds. The kidneys were turgid with blood, and the urinary bladder was 
much distended by bloody urine. The cerebro-spinal centers were healthy. 

Observation XII, August 11, 1868. — Red cow; the property of L. R. Hastings, Chi- 
cago. This cow had been sick about a week, and was killed, by bleeding, for the purpose 
of dissection. The organs of respiration, the organs of deglutition, and the first stomach 
were healthy. The second stomach contained many foreign objects, such as nails and 
wires, and one considerable piece of iron wire perforated the fundus. The mucous mem- 
brane was of a dull, dirty-red color over its whole surface. The third stomach was healthy. 
The fourth stomach, reddened at its cardiac end, was studded, over the whole of its trans- 
verse folds, with grayish-yellow eminences of the size of an ordinary pin's head, as pre- 
viously described. The pyloric end was also somewhat congested, but studded throughout 
with irregular ulcers, four of which were of considerable size, and near the intestinal open- 
ing. There was ramified redness throughout the whole of the mucous membrane of the 
small intestine. The ileo- colic valve was ecchymosed, and ecchymoses were scattered ovei 
the whole fundus of the caecum. The inner lining of the colon and rectum was con- 
gested. The liver and gall bladder appeared generally healthy, with the exception of some 
congestion of the gland and fatty degeneration. The spleen was much enlarged and 
thicker in the center than in any previously examined case. It weighed seven and one- 
half pounds. Organs of respiration healthy. The heart was slightly ecchymosed on its 
outer surface. The right cavities were full of frothy blood, and ecchymosed on the free 
wall. The left ventricle was empty, and infiltrations of blood in and beneath the endo- 
cardium existed on the fleshy pillars and the septum. The kidneys were much congested. 
On cutting into the pelvis of each kidney, the mucous lining was found densely studded 



IHE SPLENIC FEVER. 103 

with ecchymoses, as seen m the illustration. The bladder was filled with dark urme. The 
naucous lining was dotted all over with small, vermilion, punctiform ecchymoses, as delin- 
eated in i^late. The uterus was studded over its horns with small ecchymotic spots, sim- 
ilar to those on the inner surface of the bladder, as indicated by plate. The cerebral 
meninges were slightly congested, and the arachnoid sac contained an excess of serum. 
The gray matter of the medulla oblongata was reddened. On cutting into the cerebellum 
its gray centers were found ecchymosed, and similar well-marked extravasations of blood 
existed in the gray matter of the crura cerebri. In other respects the brain appeared 
healthy. 

Observation XIII, August 12, 1868. — Red and white cow; the property of Mr. 
King, of Bridgeport ; was killed by effusion of blood. The organs of respiration were 
found healthy. The heart was of normal size, but slightly ecchymosed at the apex, and 
the outer surface of the left auricular appendix was of a uniform dark blood color, as seen 
in plate. The organs of deglutition and the rumen were healthy. The mucous membrane of 
the reticulum was throughout of a dull, port-wine color. The third stomach was normal. 
The fourth stomach was the seat of diflFuse redness throughout, with an irregular abrasion 
near the pylorus. The small intestine was reddened in every part, and the large intes- 
tine ecchymosed in the CEecum, and toward the end of the rectum. The liver and gall 
bladder were healthy. The spleen was at least four times its natural size, of a dark purplish 
tint, and its structure disintegrated. The kidneys were dark colored and congested. The 
bladder was enormously distended with bloody urine. The brain and its meninges gave 
signs of intense congestion, and the puncta vasculosa of the cerebrum were very marked. 

Observation XIV, August 13, 1868. — Red steer; the property of Mr. Joseph Heath, 
near Oxford ; killed for dissection. Organs of respiration healthy. Heart healthy and 
free from petechi?e. The mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, and first three stomachs were found 
healthy. The cardiac end of the fourth stomach was of a deep red color, some of the folds 
ecchymosed, and some of the dark centers of the ecchymoses had sloughed. The pyloric 
end was much less congestoi, but its entire surface more or less abraded. The exposed 
vascular membrane was of a dark red color, and the food firmly adhered to it. Both 
small and large intestines indicated some congestion of the mucous lining. The liver was 
considerably enlarged, much engorged with blood, and was fatty. The spleen weighed five 
and a half pounds, was dark in color, and friable in consistence. The kidneys were con- 
gested, and the bladder was largely distended with bloody urine. 

Observation XV, August 14, 186&. — Red steer ; the property of same owner ; also 
killed for dissection. With the exception of slight ecchymoses of the pleura on the ante- 
rior lobe of the left lung, the organs of respiration offered no indications of disease. The 
heart was of normal size, but appeared more flabby than in health. The right cavities 
contained a little fluid blood, and the columnee carnese of the ventricle were slightly 
ecchymosed. The blood-staining of the endocardium was much marked on the fleshy 
pillars of the left ventricle. The organs of deglutition, the first, the second, and the third 
stomach, were quite healthy. The fourth stomach not quite so much congested as usual, 
but its cardiac folds were studded with very numerous ecchymoses, many of which were 
perforated in their centers. The pyloric end was also somewhat congested, but the ero- 
sions were more marked and extensive than on the transverse folds of the cardiac end. 
Near the pyloric opening were several small ulcers, to the surface of which the gastric con- 



104 DEPAKT3IE>^T OF AGEICULTUEE. 

tents had adhered. In the intestines, the only lesions discovered were a number of puncti- 
form ecchymoses in the rectum, especially near the anus. The liver was fatty, much 
engorged with blood, and appeared greatly increased in size. The spleen weighed four 
and a half pounds, was of a dark color, and its structure softened. The kidneys were 
of a deep red color, and the bladder much distended by bloody urine- The mucous sur- 
face of the bladder was studded all over with small petechia; of a vermilion hue, as seen 
in other cases. 

Observation XVI, August 20, 1868. — Red steer ; at slaughter-house in Bridgeport. 
Organs of respiration healthy. Heart firm and of normal size, was slightly ecchymosed at 
the apex, and on the fleshy pillars of the left ventricle. Organs of deglutition and the 
first stomach sound. The fourth stomach was slightly reddened at the cardiac end ; two 
small erosions, about one-third of an inch in length, existed near the pylorus, where the 
membrane generally was of normal color. The intestines were healthy. The liver and 
gall bladder, to all appearance, normal. The spleen, of a dark color, weighed four and a 
half pounds ; but its structure had undergone little change, was firm, and of a brighter 
red than any previously examined in cases of splenic fever. The appearance of this spleen 
is shown in plate. The kidneys were slightly congested, and, on cutting into the pelvis, 
some bright ecchymoses were found, as if in the earliest stage of blood extravasation in 
these structures. The bladder contained a moderate quantity of clear-colored urine, but 
was slightly ecchymosed near its neck. The cerebro-spinal centers were healthy. 

Observation XVII, August 21, 1868. — Red cow; examined at St. Louis. Killed 
by effusion of blood. Respiratory passages healthy. On opening the thorax the lungs 
were found pale, and only partially collapsed. The posterior lobe of the right lung was 
the seat of extensive interlobular emphysema. On the anterior and the middle lobes were 
several scattered patches of congestion, corresponding to congested lobules, within which 
were simple reddened, not solidified, globules, and they floated on water. The heart, of 
normal size and consistence, was slightly ecchymosed on the anterior and the posterior 
ventricular furrows. Internally the right cavities, containing a little fluid blood, were 
healthy ; but the left was tinged by ecchymotic spots on the fleshy pillars of ventricle. 
The mouth, pharynx, gullet, and first three stomachs, were healthy. The fourth stomach 
was reddened at its cardiac end, and its folds studded all over with ecchymoses. The 
small intestine was the seat of ramified redness throughout. In the ciscum, in a line 
with the mucous folds, the blood extravasations which had occurred were of a dark rusty 
color ; and similar changes were seen in the rectum. The liver and gall bladder, much 
congested, weighed twenty-five pounds. In the liver were old adhesions, and some de- 
posits of yellow granular lymph, near the surface, extending in one instance to half an 
inch in depth There was also marked evidence of fatty degeneration. The gall bladder 
was the seat of extensive, ramified redness on its inner surface. The spleen, of a dark 
purplish tint, weighed six and a half pounds. Wherever an incision was made, its soft- 
ened pulp exuded without pressure. The kidneys, paler than usual in this disease, weighed 
three and one-quarter pounds. They were free from ecchymoses. The urinary bladder 
was much distended with bloody urine. The cerebro-spinal meninges were intensely con- 
gested. The gray matter of the brain was reddened, and the puncta vasculosa in the oval 
centers very marked. 



THE SrLEXIC FEVEI^. 105 

Observation XVIII, August 24, 1868. — Black steer; the property of Messrs. Palmer 
and Perry. Died during the day. Post-rnortern examination at 6 p. m. Respiratory 
passages normal; cadaveric congestion of left lung. On opening the pericardium, the heart 
was found extensively ecchymosed at the base of the right ventricle, and over the origin 
of the pulmonary artery. The right cavities contained a little dark, semi-fluid blood. 
The left side was nearly empty, but on the columnfe carnete of the ventricle there was a 
dark purplish tint of the endocardium from extensive extravasations of blood in and be- 
neath its structure. The digestive organs anterior to the true stomach were sound. The 
cardiac end of the abomasum was of a diffuse red color. The mucous membrane of the 
pyloric end was of normal color wherever it was not eroded, but it was studded with 
twenty to thirty abrasions of the epithelium, exposing the vascular membrane in patches 
varying from one-fourth to one and one-half inch in length, and usually longer than broad. 
The duodenum was turgid with bile. The jejunum was extensively ecchymosed on its 
irmer surface. The large intestine was healthy, except some extravasations on the rectal 
folds. The liver and gall bladder, of general normal look, but congested, weighed twenty- 
seven pounds. The gall bladder was distended by inspissated bile. The gland itself was 
softened by fatty change. The spleen, dark and softened, weighed seven and one-fourth 
pounds. The kidneys were intensely congested, but not ecchymosed. The bladder was 
full to repletion of bloody urine, but its coats were normal. Darkness precluded the 
examination of the brain and spinal cord. 

Observation XIX, August 26, 1868. — Two-year-old roan steer; the property of Mr. 
Richard Callahani, near Abilene. Organs of respiration healthy. Heart flabby and blood- 
stained on the posterior ventricular furrow. Interior of right side unchanged, but on the 
septum, and fleshy pillars in the left ventricle, were extensive ecchymoses. On opening 
the abdomen the peritoneum was found studded with punctiform ecchymoses. Organs of 
deglutition and first three stomachs normal. The cardiac end of the fourth stomach 
was intensely reddened, and its folds marked by zigzag fissures or ulcerations, m the cen- 
ter of which were black scabs, with adherent food. The pyloric end was of more normal 
color, but four .ulcers, about one-half inch broad, and of irregular shape, existed in its mid- 
dle; and at the pyloric end was a larger spot of ulceration, about one inch in length. 
The duodenum was much congested on its minor surface, and diffuse redness pervaded 
the mucous membrane of the jejunum and ileum. In various parts of the latter were 
small, dark petechia. The mucous membrane of the whole of the large intestine was of 
"a dark red color, and the excrement in the rectum was tinged with blood. Through the 
whole of the longitudinal mucous folds extravasations of blood had occurred. The liver 
and gall bladder weighed seventeen and one-half pounds, and appeared healthy. The bile 
in the gall bladder was thick. The spleen was very dark in color, its pulp soft, and its 
weight was five and onedialf pounds. The kidneys were much congested, and the mucous 
membrane of each pelvis was spotted with dark ecchymoses. In the peritoneal cul de sac, 
around the bladder and rectum, were numerous bright ecchymoses. The bladder was 
full of bloody urine, and its mucous hning extensively dotted with small blood spots, of 
a vermilion hue. On severing the head from the neck, a large quantity of serum flowed 
from the meninges. The meninges were dark, and of the general color of the gray matter 
of the cord, and the brain was much redder than in health. 
14* 



106 DEPARTMENT OK AORTCULTURE. 

Observation XX, Bcpicinbor 5- 1868. — Tliree-year-old rcil-and-wliitc cow; the prop- 
erty of Dennis Doi-an, Brighton, near Cliicago. This cow had died during the preceding 
night, and was dissected at o p. m. on the 5th. There was no sign of decomposition, and 
the internal organs were still warm. Tlie organs of respiration were healthy. Heart and 
pericardium sound, and free from eecliymoses. Organs of deglutition and first stomach 
healthy. Second stomach of a dull red hue in its inner lining. Third stomach normal. 
Fourth stomach of a dark red color at its cardiac end, with various ecchymoses,'and half 
a dozen small circumscribed spots where the epithelium had been thrown off, and the dark 
rc'd vascular membrane exposed. The general color of the lining in the antrum pylori was 
much less intensely red than in the transverse folds, but was the seat of several erosions. 
The pyloric gland had a zigzag ulcer on its summit. The small intestine was the seat of 
ramified redness. In the large intestine the longitudinal mucous folds were all reddened 
along their free margins by blood extravasation. The liver was sound, but the gall blad- 
der was thickened by serous infiltration, and its mucous lining indicated the ramifications 
of the lesser arteries and veins, which were gorged with blood. Tiie spleen weighed six 
and a third pounds, was of a dark purplish tint, and its pulp softened. The kidneys were 
congested, but not ecchymosed. The urinary bladder was distended by bloody urine. 
The broad ligaments of the uterus were thickly studded with ecchymoses of a. Iiright 
arterial hue; cerebro-spinal centers not examined. 

CAUSES AND NATURE OF THE DISEASE. 

In tliose parts where the splenic or periodic fever of cattle is enzootic, the prevailing 
influences are such as favor the develoi^ment of intermittent disease in man. There are 
parts more healthy than others; and the beneficial effects of constant winds, a dry soil, 
adequate elevation, and the introduction of good systems of culture, tend to make many 
regions in the vast countries over which malarious conditions prevail favorable for the 
health and prosperity of man. In the more swampy parts tliose diseases which charac- 
terize low and unhealthy lands in all parts of the world annually recur with the intense 
heat of summer, and often extend into the winter season. The bilious remittent and 
intermittent fevers in man are represented in animals by the deadly charbon or anthrax, 
the black tongue of domestic and wild ruminants, as also by a marked form of the splenic 
fever which I am describing. 

Texas and Florida have been chosen as resorts for invalids — for consumptive people 
during the winter ; and to cast a doubt over the salubrity of Texas might lead any one 
into difficulties in that State. It is not too much to say of the State that its acclima- 
tized inhabitants prefer to live there rather than to choose what might be viewed as a 
healthier climate further north; but it is impossible for an unprejudiced stranger traveling 
through the State not to observe the usual spare habit of body, the sallow, yellowish 
complexion, and the want of activity prevailing among the inhabitants. There are 
exceptions and exceptional spots; but it is evident that there exists some condition, 
either of soil or climate, unfavorable to the health of man. 

I had not anticipated witnessing universal indications of a low standard of health 
in animals. Texans pride themselves on tlieir herds of beeves, on the size cattle often 
attain, on the masses of fat rolling over tlie bones and muscles of steers fed only on 



THE SPLENIC FEVEU. 1<»7 

mesquit, and they look unou Texas as a center whence llie world may lie supplied with 
beeves. 

There is every reasou for believing that Texas must remain one of the greatest, if not 
the greatest, cattle-growing State of the Union ; but its progress and prosperity demand 
that farmers should be informed of the conditions which are ever in operation against 
them, and they will doubtless bring their intelligence and industry to bear in correcting 
evils that are far from imaginary. 

Inquiries as to the diseases of Texan cattle in Texas are almost always met by j)cople 
of that State by the declaration that cattle are never sick there; yet a "norther" may 
sweep down and drive the cattle upon a narrow neck of land, where they starve at times 
for want of food; drought, as in -1864, sometimes destroys thousands; while in the win- 
ter excessive wet destroys the grasses, favors diarrhoea, and unless the cattle can get in 
the woods and eat some swamp moss, wild onions, or other products of the river bottoms, 
they must occasionally succumb. 

The close of 1868 and beginning of 1869 have been remarkable for an excessive 
amount of rain. Cattle have suffered greatly, and on all the sedge grass lands along the 
Brazos starvation has not been uncommon. Further west, on the mesquit, not far from 
Corpus Christi, cattle have been in fair condition; but some idea of the scarcity of really 
fat cattle during the winter months may be obtained from tlie fact that, at Indianola, 
cattle for New Orleans market could not be had under twenty dollars in gold. We hear 
so much of cattle being worth only a few dollars a head in summer, and people killing them 
by the thousand for their hides and tallow, that the only reason to be given for heavy win- 
ter prices is the scarcity of really fat stock, and the great distance it has to be driven, even 
to such a port as Indianola. 

I have seen many large herds of Texan cattle that had been wintered in Illinois, 
Indiana, or Missouri, and have made myself acquainted with the average weight of cattle 
in Texas, and one most important fact appears, viz., that a Texan steer will increase in 
twelve months on the grasses of a more northern latitude than that of his native State, 
by one, two, or three hundred pounds over and above the highest weight he will ever 
attain in Texas. Let us take the cattle fed on the mesquit, said to be fat all the year 
round — and where, therefore, an animal has not to make up for lost condition — and age 
for age, it will take three of them to weigh down the Illinois. steer, and probably four. I 
take the best and the average, and it will be found, on careful examination, that the cattle 
on the noted grasses of Texas, whether from the soil, heat, water, or other cause, do not 
attain the weight and condition that the same cattle do if removed to the north, nor that 
northern or western cattle do on their native prairies. 

Texans are finding this out, and, much to their credit, they are introducing a system 
of corn-feeding that gives them cattle that can compete in western markets with other 
corn-fed cattle. They can, it is true, show us some prodigies from mesquit grounds, but the 
average run of grass-fed cattle in Texas might be greatly improved by attention to the 
subjects of breeding, shelter, artificial feeding, &c. 

What are the active causes in operation which tend to influence prejudicially the 
stamina of southern herds? Traveling over the prairies, no one can fail to be struck by 
the large number of dead animals to be met with. The dissection of these, or the slaughter 
and dissection of the first animal met with, reveals three distinct and unfavorable mani- 



108 DEPAKT.MKNT OF AliKICULTUEE. 

festation.-<. The spleen is enlarged; lli<' animals have, without exception, the ''ague cake" — 
the stamp of a raalarious district; the liver is fatty, and this is a lesion that might be 
anticipated in so warm a country; the true stomach is reddened at its left end, the membrane 
is eroded, or appears as if scratched with a sharp nail on its folds, and although there may 
be only a single and small erosion, nevertheless the trace of gastric disorder is there. I 
have not failed in a single instance in Texas to trace this, and I have opened as many as 
twenty-six animals per day, weighing their organs carefully, and watching closely for these 
signs. Sometimes the scars of old ulcers are more marked than the erosions on the mucous 
folds, and it is not unconmion to find there traces of ancient lesions about the pylorus, or 
intestinal opening. 

My observations extend further. From the earliest age that the calf feeds on grass, 
to the oldest that a bullock attains, the morbid lesions alluded to are found. They grow 
better and worse, and, in dissecting a dozen animals, one or two will be found to have 
blood extravasations, of a very limited and delicate character, in the pelvis of the kidney, 
in the urinary bladder, and in the intestinal mucous membrane. During the summer, so 
far as I can learn, more than at any other season, a few bullocks in a herd may be seen to 
droop behind, and void bloody urine. Mr. Louis Brandt, now a practicing veterinarian 
in New York, who lived twelve years in Texas, often witnessed these symptoms; and 
persons engaged in shipping large quantities of cattle throughout the year have told me 
that they have at times. seen the symptoms. 

It is difficult to get at the truth; but from personal observation, and very careful and 
numerous inquiries, I am in a position to state that almost if not quite universally, in the 
States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, and for a distance of at least two or three hundred 
miles inland, the cattle do not attain the full weight they can and do reach elsewhere ; 
that they very commonly appear in blooming health, and are usually free from^acute and 
marked symptoms of any disease; that, nevertheless, these animals are usually more 
ana?mic and less firm than northern cattle, and that, without exception, all of them that I* 
have dissected have shown the spleen enlarged to twice or thrice its usual weight, the liver 
slightly or very fatty, and the true stomach reddened and eroded. The removal of these 
animals to a northern State results, especially as winter approaches, in a diminished size 
of spleen, a great deposit of fat, and development of Ijlood and muscle, and the cicatriza- 
tion of the gastric lesions. 

Side by side with observations made by me in Texas on the bodies of animals that 
had died, and on others slaughtered in apparent health, must be placed Mr. Ravenel's 
researches in relation to the cryptogamic origin of the disease. I do not wish to forestall 
his observations, or the report of Doctors Billings and Curtis, .but certainly it appeared that 
the grasses which the animals ate had a healthy aspect, were not infected by parasitic 
plants, and could not, on a casual observation, be recognized as presenting any peculiar 
character that might account for the ill health of animals eating them. 

Conjecture is not always profitable, and as yet it is impossible to say more with cer- 
tainty than that, in a warm country, where a rich and retentive soil is ever charged with 
considerable moisture, and where artificial systems of culture are in their infancy, a gen- 
eral low tone of system prevails, which manifests itself in the shape of an imperfect de- 
velopment of blood, an enlargement of blood glands, and very significant lesions of the 
stomach and liver. 



THE SPLENIC FEVEJ!. . 109 

Descriptions of the Texun fever, which have been published for years past, all agree 
that the Texan and also Florida cattle, which have caused so much mischief, appear them- 
selves to be in perfect health; and the thriving condition of many herds in Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Missouri, and Kansas tended, at first, to convince us that whatever injured the im- 
proved breeds indigenous to these States had no efiect on the long-horned Texan cattle. 
It is true that at Cairo we were informed, by a gentleman whose statement we had no 
reason to doubt, that he had seen many Texan cattle die in the railway pens; and as 
many as nine or ten in one morning had been found dead, having, in his opinion, succumbed 
to the same disease as that destroying the cows of the inhabitants of Cairo. He supplied 
the hay for all the cattle landed there, and the first few lots, landed in April, appeared 
sound; but he afterward saw three or four lots, numbering from two hundred and fifty to 
five hundred head, which were affected by the prevailing disease. He distinctly avers 
that six, eight, and even ten head of dead cattle were hauled oflf the boats when they 
arrived laden with stock, and the men in charge got medicine for the disease. One lot of 
two hundred and fifty animals, referred to by this informant, was taken off the cars at 
Farina, after leaving Cairo for the North, simply because they were suftering severely, 
and it was supposed that this arose from the journey ; but they communicated disease to 
all the cattle that fed in their path, and killed forty-seven out of fifty Illinois cattle with 
which they grazed, from the 10th of May to the middle of June. 

In opposition to hearsay evidence, it was my duty to examine cattle alive and those 
which were dead. I saw sixty-four Texan steers, fresh from New Orleans, which were 
unloaded at Cairo on the 1st of August. They all appeared healthy. We had previously 
seen a considerable number of the same kind of stock without being able to detect the 
slightest evidence of disease, and were happy to receive an invitation to visit Mr. Alexan- 
der's farm, at Broadlands, near Homer, where there were four thousand five hundred and 
twenty-seven Texan steers, which had been driven to Broadlands, and had communicated 
disease not only to the cattle feeding on their trail, but also to a herd of Illinois cattle with 
which thev were mixed in reaching their destination. 

The numbers and dates rcUding to the several importations at Broadlands arc as foUoirs: 



I'nirliased at — Date of arrival at lininillamls 



'ToIouo May 31, 18(i8 499 

Tolouo Juue -2, 1868 '^28 

Tolouo June 18, 1868 496 

Tolouo June 20, 1868 349 

Aljilene Juuc25, 1868 ^.37 

Tolouo ' June 26, 1868 140 

Tolouo June 30, 1868 107 

Abilene July 2,1868 248 

AbUeue July 3, ISO:' 241 

Chicago July 4, 1868 19.'') 

Tolono. July 22,1868 - 362 

Tolono ' July 25, 1868 - 611 

Tolouo '.-. July 28, 1868 514 

Total 4,527 



no 



I)ErAin\"\IE>«T OF A(}IUCULTUEE. 



Up to the 12tli of September, the date of a letter from Broadlaiuls, thirty-one of the 
animals had died, "most if not all of them from injurii-s received in transit." Of four 
thousand five hundred and twenty-seven animals driven or transported in steamers and 
on railroads, it is not surprising that some should die, considering the great distances they 
had to travel ; but all which we examined alive appeared liealtby and thriving. That 
they communicated disease to a very serious extent is proved beyond doubt; and it would 
have been important to determine, by the slaughter of many, their real condition. 

On the 6th of August I visited Broadlands a second time, for the purpose of dissect- 
ing a Texan steer which the jieople of the neighborlaood believed would show signs of the 
disease. We inspected the herds generally, which still looked in perfect health, but one 
of the imported cattle was reported ill and dying. He had reached the farm about the 
middle of July, and had not thriven well. It was, as usual, supposed that he had sus- 
tained injuries on the journey. When I saw this animal alive, he was lying down, with 
his head stretched on the ground; imperceptible pulse at the jaw, great listlessness and 
])rostration, but presenting no distinctive symptoms of splenic fever. After death I found 
that there was an effusion of bloody serum under the jaw. The organs of respiration 
were healthy, and the heart sound. The whole of the stomach and the intestines were 
normal, as also the liver, gall bladder, and spleen. The kidneys and bladder exhibited no 
signs of blood extravasations, or alteration in the urine, such as is seen in splenic fever. 
From the general emaciation of the body, and the absence of any lesion of disease, it was 
evident to me that this animal had died of hectic; or, in other words, of the ill eflfects of 
prolonged starvation and ill usage, which had permanently arrested the functions of assim- 
ilation. The Texan cattle were intermixed in the pastures of Broadlands with about six 
hundred native animals. All but two hundred and eighty of these were soon sent to eastern 
markets, and those which remained with them began to die on the 26th of July. They 
were then placed on green corn; but they continued to sicken and succumb to the disease 
until one hundred and ninetj'-eight of all kinds, including a yoke of old Texan steers, 
which had been some time on the farm, had been Imried. At the time of my visit the 
mortality was raging at its highest point, and men were busy, from sunrise to sunset, skin- 
ning, digging graves, and burying. Information afterward received was that one hundred 
and fifty of the cattle sent to New York died before they arrived there, and the rest were 
sent to the rendering tanks. 

Colonel Sullivan, of Twin Grove, Vermillion County, Illinois, purchased five hun- 
dred Texan steers at Cairo, on the 24th of May. They remained healthy, but communi- 
cated the disease to forty Illinois steers and twenty heifers and cows. The disease ap- 
peared at Twin Grove on Tuesday, the 28th of July. Of the Texan steers three have 
died as the result of accident. The next group of southern cattle which come under spe- 
cial observation was that of J. A. Harris, near Champaign. He had eighty-five head of 
southern cattle, purchased last fall. There were with them thirty-eight Illinois steers, 
and this herd of one hundred and twenty-three had grazed together the entire season. On 
the 15th of July they were placed on pasture over which a herd of Texans had been 
driven on the 15th of June. On the 3d of August the Illinois cattle began to die ; and, 
in four days, twenty out of the thirty-eight were buried. The eighty-five southern cattle 
remained in perfect health. 



TlIK SPLElNir FEYEIJ. Ill 

This special immunity of the cattle imported from tlie 8oulli indicated that they had 
overcome the influences which operate. Iiowever mildly, to the prejudice of their health 
in the South. 

On the 13th of August we visited Hickory Grove, near Oxford, Indiana. There 
were at that place one thousand animals, which had been imported in the fall of 1867, 
and had caused no disease either in transit or on the farm. On the 1st of June, 1868, 
two hundred and sixteen head were purchased, which came from New Orleans and Mem- 
phis ; and, on the 12th of July and the 8th of August, two separate droves of one thou- 
sand head were taken on the farm from Tolono. The condition of the whole of this stock 
was as perfect as any grazier could desire. Many of them were quite fit for the butcher; 
and those purchased last were in a thriving condition. The last two droves communicated 
disease pn their trail ; but, being by themselves at Hickory Grove, liad no opi>ortunity of 
inflicting any damage. 

At Parish Grove, adjoining the last-named farm, a herd of about five hundred Texan 
cattle had just been imported from Tolono. It was said that the cattle, on their way 
from Paxlon to Hickory <Trove, in July, referred to above, had crossed the prairie in 
whicli the Parish Grove, Illi4iois, cattle, numbering five hundred, had grazed. Within 
seven or eight days after the last herd of five hundred cattle had reached Parish Grove 
from Tolono, the Illinois cattle began to die. • Fifteen car loads of these had just been 
sent by rail to Chicago ; and, of the remaining number, few survived. I inspected four 
sick steers, and it was evident that the malady would destroy nearly all the Illinois stock. 
On an adjoining farm Mr. Edward Sumner had nearly one thousand head of northern cat- 
tle, among which the disease had appeared. 

On the 14th of August we visited Mr. Joseph Heath's farm, near Oxford, Indiana, 
and found there one thousand one hundred Texan cattle which had been purchased at 
New Orleans and Tolono. These had communicated disease over the road they had 
passed, and Mr. Heath's native stock, numbering seventy or eighty, were dying fast. We 
examined three alive, and dissected two, showing all the indications of splenic fever. 

On the next day, at Reynolds, we visited a herd of over two hundred Texan steers, 
which had arrived on the 27th of May ; and disease appeared at Pi,eynolds the beginning 
of June. One car load of the animals was unloaded at Chalmers, and driven upon J. M. 
Bunnell's pasture, at Reynolds. They remained there only two days ; but, five weeks 
afterward, the disease appeared, and killed the whole of Mr. Bunnell's stock, amounting 
to about eighteen hundred head. The bulk of the Texan cattle were sent to Kenton's 
pasture, three miles from Reynolds, Avliere they were mixed with seventy-three head of 
native cattle. Of these, at the time of our visit, from fifty-five to sixty had already died, 
and others were sick. Cattle on .the west side of the track at Reynolds were safe; but 
cattle east, between the station and Kenton's pasture, had died. 

It is worthy of special mention here that, for the first time, the transportation of 
Texan cattle was established in 1868 from New Orleans, by steamboats up the Missis- 
sippi to Cairo ; and thence, via the Illinois Central road, to the pastures of Illinois and 
Indiana, having heretofore been sent, since the war, from INew Orleans up the Mississijjpi 
to Louisville, Kentucky, with the same results as at Cairo. The first lot of Texan cattle 
was landed at Cairo on the 23d day of April ; and between that time and the 1st of Au- 
gust, when the railway peremptorily refused to transport any more stock, about sixteen 



112 DKPAIJTMENT OF AGKICULTURE. 

thousand animals passed iVoni tlie South on that route. At Cairo the splenic fever ap- 
peared about the end of May, or beginning of June ; at Farina early in July ; at Tolono 
on the 20th of July ; and thence, at later periods, usually dating five weeks from the 
time the Texan cattle were driven upon the roads and pastures, where disease afterward 
appeared The majority of the cattle, amounting probably to ten thousand, were handled 
by the railroad people at Tolono ; and Mr. Charles Troyford, of that place, who had lost 
forty-eight out of ninety-eight Illinois cattle by the disease, at the time of our visit, in- 
formed me that he had. not seen a single Texan steer diseased, out of the whole ten thou- 
sand, tlie feeding, driving, and delivering of which he had personally superintended. 

From the commencement of my inquiries I had considered it highly probable that 
cases of splenic fever would be found even among southern stock ; and rewards were of- 
ered, at Tolono and elsewhere, to any one who would indicate cases alive or dead.. Con- 
sidering that, wherever we traveled, the people whose stock had been destroyed were 
anxious to furnish us the positive proof, if such could ho obtained, it is remarkable that 
not a single case was brought to our notice. 

I returned to Chicago, and again had occasion to inspect both Texan and Illinois 
cattle in the slaughter-houses ; and having, by that time, ascertained the means whereby 
even the latent forms of the disease might be discovered after death, I had no difficulty 
in tracing lesions in steers reputed healthy, and slaughtered for human food. This infor- 
mation I communicated at once to Dr. Ranch, medical officer of health of the city of Chi- 
cago, who invited me to address a meeting of the board of health, on Tuesday, the 18th of 
August ; and, as what I then stated is of material moment in the history of developments 
made by me on this subject, I do not hesitate to transcribe, from the short-hand writer's 
notes, the following passages : 

I was callnl upon, a lortuight ago, ti> reply to the i|uostioii wlictlicr, if any of tlu' llcsli of tlic sick animals ha))- 
pcued to l)c sold, it was pi-oliablc tliat Ininian beings might suffer ? I unhesitatingly asserted then what I rejieat now 
that the mcjit is not poisonous, and is incapable of injuring liumau beings. To that opinion I adhere. 

If 1 should be asked what regulations should be )iuide by city authorities, in relation to the trattic in diseased meat, 
I have simply to declare what I have said for many years past, viz., that it is impossible to diaw a line between health 
and di.sease, except as the two conditions are known to medical men; and, notwithstaiuliug the apparent dis.idvan- 
tages of condemniMg more meat than there is any necessity for, it is essential that a sanitary officer should be supported, 
on the broad general ])rineiple that a diseased animal is an animal unfit for human consumption. 

The danger of an abundant supply of animal food, the produce of animals affected with Texan fever, lias almost 
passed. Sonu> farmers and shippers havi- learned that it is not safe to send stock to such markets as these, and the 
action of this, as of other boards of health, has no doubt tieen already beneficial. 

But any system of inspection now to be adopteil must almost inevitably fail, if directed mainly to the condition of 
live stock at the I'nion stock yards. 

It is in the slaughter-lionses that a ready nu'ans of ascertaining the real condition of cattle can be secured ; and the 
recognition of the Tex.an fever rests in the examination specially of the .spleen, which is much increased in size, some- 
times before animals show any external signs of sickness. A medical inspector would likewise detect blood extrava- 
sations in the internal organs, ulcerations of the stomach, and, as the disease advanced, bloody urine ; but the nmst 
satisfactory sign, for the purxiose of meat inspections, is the condition of the spleen. The flesh of animals .slaughtered, 
when affected, shows no signs of morbid change, .so that it is essential to examine the internal organs in order to draw 
eonclnsions as to the condition of any carcass. 

On the 20th of August Ave left for St. Louis, Kansas City, and Abilene. We met 
with cases of splenic fever in the first-named city ; but, from the manner in which the 
Texan droves are segregated while awaiting their transfer to the cars at Kansas City, the 
indigenous stock in that district was found healthy. At Junction City we found a herd of 
sick cattle which had crossed the Texan trails at Salina, having been used in the West for 
draught purposes. We proceeded to Abilene, the center of the shipment of Texan steers. 



THE SPLENIC FEVEK. 113 

It had been confidently asserted that the stock, driven by easy stages from Texas through 
the Indian Territory and unsettled lands of Kansas, had communicated no disease ; but 
this we found erroneous, as the indigenous stock around Abilene had suffered, and herds 
had just been seized, from which we had ample opportunities for examining such cattle, 
both alive and dead. 

We learned at the Drover's Cottage that, scattered along the creeks at intervals of 
four or five miles, large herds of Texan cattle could be seen over a distance of forty or fifty 
miles. This led us to undertake a journey across the prairie, as far down as Big Turkev 
Creek, near the Little Arkansas River ; and it is but just that publicity be given to the 
anxiety manifested, and assistance tendered us in our investigations, on the part of the 
gentlemen engaged in the southern trade. Major Call, who owned two of the largest herds, 
zealously undertook the necessary ari'angements for our journey ; and, by this means, we 
had an opportunity of examining carefully over fifteen thousand head of cattle, which had 
arrived at their destination during the months of July and August. 

In general terms, it may be said that the whole stock indicated how much better it is 
for cattle to be driven slowly, where there is an ample supply of food and water, than it 
is to transport them, even for two or three days, in railway cars. There was a difference 
in the herds according to the speed they had maintained on the journey, and it appears 
that an average walk of eight miles daily, over the whole journey, is as much as the cattle 
should be subjected to in order to secure improvement rather than deterioration in their 
condition. The best drovers avoid shouting and the stock-whip; and much depends on 
the intelligence of the person who superintends a herd as to the selection of the best grazing 
ground and searching for a sufficient supply of water. The creeks, scattered throughout 
the whole of the prairie lands of Kansas, dry up in summer, and cattle must sometimes be 
driven thirty or thirty-five miles before water can be found. This is rare; but, under the 
most careful management, the driving of cattle from Texas to any point on the eastern 
division of the Union Pacific road at or west of Abilene is attended with some such incon- 
venience. Nevertheless, wherever proper supervision is exercised that the animals may 
never be overheated, it is found that they improve in condition, grow stout and hardy, 
and are in a fit state for slaughter at the end of their journey on foot. 

Of the stock we examined, two hundred head of Indian cattle, from the Chickasaw 
nation, were in pasture five miles from Abilene, and all appeared in very fine condition. 
The greater part of the remaining stock we inspected was from Northwestern, from Central, 
and from Eastern Texas. 

The only evidence of suftering was, at first, lameness, which in some cases was due 
to injuries from animals fighting or spraining themselves in getting through difiicult places. 
At times a steer gets lame from the long sharp grass, wounding the skin between the hoof; 
and at other points, as on Smoky Hill, the stony surface, with angular fragments of iron- 
stone and other hard and sharp bits of flint, wounds the feet and disables a considerable 
number of cattle. 

On Smoky Hill we found, on the 27th of August, a herd which had been collected, 
from forty to two hundred miles from the coast, in Southern Texas, between the 1st and 
the 18th of May. It arrived at Smoky Hill on the 22d of August. Two animals had died 
on the route; one died after getting lame, and the other refused to eat, was depressed, 
languid, and passed blood with the excreta. - At the time of our visit there were twenty 
15 



114 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

or thirty animals wliicli looked gaunt and weak, but we were told that they were work- 
oxen in poor condition. One animal was lame and stiff, but was reported as improving in 
condition. Another had died during the night, and we proceeded to examine its internal 
organs. It was a dun Texan steer, four years old, that had been stampeded with others 
the day before, and shortly afterward had succumbed. The body was still warm, and 
free from all trace of decomposition. The skin and subcutaneous tissues presented no 
mark of injury or disease. The organs of respiration were healthy. The heart, of normal 
volume and consistency, was ecchymosed at its apex, and circumscribed blood extravasa- 
tions dotted the reflection of the pericardium over and around the pulmonary artery. The 
right cavities of the heart contained a small clot of blood, and the left were empty. The 
endocardium was of normal color and thickness throughout. The mouth, fauces, pharynx, 
esophagus, and the first three stomachs were healthy. The fourth, or true stomach, was 
reddened over' its entire mucous surface. The folds at the cardiac end were of a deep red, 
with numerous petechia scattered irregularly over their surface. The petechise were 
usually dark in the center, where the membrane was softening, and of a lighter crimson 
hue on their circumferences. Many were round, and others of irregular shapes, either 
from coalescence of several extravasations or the irregular spreading of one original bleed- 
ing spot. 

The small intestine, of a reddish or purplish hue externally, was the seat of ramified 
redness, with some petechise scattered throughout its whole extent. Peyer's glands were 
healthy. The ileum was, however, more congested than the duodenum or jejunum. 
The ca?cum, somewhat reddened on its entire mucous surface, was stri23ed with blood 
extravasations which had occurred along the prominent edges of the mucous folds at its 
fundus, and there were several well-defined ecchymoses scattered irregularly over the 
whole lining. The colon was more or less reddened throughout, until near its termination, 
where it had a natural color. The rectum was not discolored, but near the anus there 
was a small patch with a thin film of coagulated blood on its unabraded surface, and, 
when the membrane wrinkled by the action of the sphincter, the free margin of the folds 
was streaked with interstitial deposit of blood. The spleen, of a dark purplish color, 
weighed three and a half pounds, and its structure was soft and friable. 

The liver was of normal size and color, but the gall bladder appeared thickened from 
an exudation of yellow serum in the substance of its coats. These apjseared three or four 
times their normal thickness. The small arteries and veins of the mucous membrane 
were much distended with dark blood, and there was also some capillary congestion. 
The kidneys were healthy. The bladder was moderately distended by clear-colored urine, 
but its mucous surface, reddened at the fundus, was dotted Avith small petechias of a 
vermilion hue at and around the neck of the organ. 

Failing to obtain further evidence of sj^lenic fever in this and an adjoining herd from 
a careful inspection of the animals, I determined on having some of them caught and 
examined with a self-registering thermometer. Four steers, caught with a lasso, indicated 
a temperature of 103.4°, 102.4°, 103°, and 104.2°. This indicated a somewhat exalted 
temperature for animals which to all appearances were in health; and I was fortunate in 
getting an animal that had been used in a wagon, driven quietly to camp, and then 
examined. Tliis indicated a temperature of 103° Fahrenheit. My conviction that the 
lasso would not vary the temperature was thus confirmed, and it is hard to reconcile the 
observations made with perfect freedom from disease. 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 115 

The inspections of herds grazed on and near the Santa Fe road, and inquiries among 
drovers and herders, failed to bring to light any other cases of sickness or death ; and the 
evidence of the suflPering of Texan cattle from splenic fever, so far as our observations in 
Kansas go, rested on the very marked case examined at Smoky Hill, on the high temperature 
manifested by animals in the undoubtedly infected herd, and on the observations as to 
the relative weights of spleens in healthy and sick cattle, reported in the foregoing pages. 

Notwithstanding, however, the favorable report which can be made regarding the 
general appearance of southern herds, it is proved by the experiences of past years, and 
of this, that they disseminate disease among cattle north or west of the Gulf States. 
The impression was left on my mind, after the first observations of the malady, that the 
Texan steers might be found to communicate the disease only for a limited time after 
leavinc Texas. There is reason to believe that such is the case, though we found that two 
months' journey, from Texas to the Union Pacific road, had not sufficed to effect this 
object. Experiments on this point would be desirable, though expensive, and demanding 
much time and attention. We were told, however, that the cattle which had induced so 
much disease at Farina, on being removed to Loda, were placed on lands which brought 
them in contact with Illinois cattle, and no bad results ensued. Mr. Kobert Clark, of 
Indianola, who has had great experience in driving cattle through Missouri into Illinois, 
states it as his decided opinion, from repeated observation and inquiries among drovers, 
that the Texan steers are most dangerous immediately after leaving Texas — and hence the 
great opposition to their importation into Missouri — -but that after they have traveled a 
long distance they are far less liable to do any mischief. This point is of great importance 
in relation to means which might be suggested for the prevention of the disease, and it is 
worthy of note that, without doubt, cattle driven into Kansas, Missouri, or other States, 
in the summer or autumn of one year, and grazed in such State during the winter, fail to 
retain any deleterious principle, and can readily be intermixed with any stock during the 
winter and spring. Texan herds, therefore; do purify themselves; and the point of greatest 
importance in relation to the traffic in such stock is to establish, without doubt, what 
length of time is required for such purification, and if means can be adopted to accelerate 
so desirable a result. 

NON-TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE BY NORTHERN OR BY WESTERN STOCK. 

During the three months last summer many well-marked cases have been seen of 
communication of splenic fever to Illinois and to Indiana cattle. At first these animals 
were allowed to die; but, as soon as large herds of grazing stock were attacked, an effort 
was made to save what could be saved by shipping and sending to eastern markets. 
Cattle trucks have thus been filled in large numbers with infected steers, which died 
or were slaughtered and committed to the rendering tanks. But not a single case has 
transpired to show that these animals have induced, directly or indirectly, any disease 
in the stock of Eastern States. How different from this is the working of a contagious 
disease ! Had any malady of the nature of rinderpest or lung plague been favored in its 
transmission as this one has been, the farmers of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York 
would have bitter experiences to record, similar to those of the much-injured Illinois 
farmers. That which is obvious in relation to the progress of the disease through the 
country is also apparent in any district invaded by the disease. None but southern cattle 



116 DEPAKTME^'T OF AGKICULTURE. 

communicate disease, and tliey rarely, if ever, do any mischief through stoqk yards and 
cattle cars, and only by feeding on pastures over which other stock afterward roams and 
feeds. No case has been brought forward to show that a railway car loaded with Texan 
cattle will coramvmicate disease to other stock afterward placed in such car. Numerous 
instances of this description would have come to light had we been dealing with what is 
commonly understood as a contagious plague. 

COMMUNICATION IN STOCK YARDS. 

The earlier reports from Cairo stated that the cows in that city had caught 'the disease 
from the Texan cattle in steamboat and railway pens; indeed we were informed that 
many of the Cairo cows had been in the habit of wandering not only near, but into the cattle 
pens, and eating the hay the Texan cattle left behind them. This is the only observation 
that would give color to the view that hay might be a means of propagating the disorder. 
But we learned at Cairo that Texan cattle had been loose on the common Avithin the 
levee, and some stray animals had remained for some days on the very prairie which is 
the only pasture for the cattle of the town. It was impossible to find a single case -which 
afforded reliable grounds for supposing that the only chance for contamination was in the 
cattle pens of Cairo. 

It may be suggested that eating hay which has been poisoned must be as bad as 
eating prairie grass over which Texan steers have wandered. But there is this difference, 
that cattle are not apt to eat hay on which the excretions of other cattle have been 
deposited, and would attempt to pick up only the clean fodder. On grass lands the 
growth of grass and the washings of the pasture by rains clear oS the filth, though they 
may often leave adhering deleterious principles, which are swallowed A good illustration 
of this is aflforded by the dissemination of the tapeworm, the ova of which are distributed 
with the excrement of dogs and other carnivora; and, wliile the fteces are washed away, 
the ova adhere to blades of grass, and develop in the systems of cattle and sheep. 

I would not wish it to be understood that I consider it improbable that hay may, under 
some circumstances, be poisoned by Texan steers, and afterward give disease to other 
stock; but, as yet, no facts prove that such has been the case. On the contrary, the most 
reliable, though accidental, experiment is afforded by cattle fed by Mr. Sherman, of the 
Union stock yards, Chicago. He has thirty-five cows which have grazed all summer close 
up to the cattle pens where thousands of southern steers have been inclosed, without inter- 
mission. Of these cows the majority have been purchased out of the yards at different 
times, some last spring, and some have been in the cattle pens with Texan droves. On 
the occasion of my visit to the yards I have also seen a Texan calf placed with the cows ; 
and yet no animals could be in better health than those in Mr. Sherman's dairy. 

This suggestive case proves, in the most incontrovertible manner, that western cattle 
can be mingled with Texans in stock yards, can graze side by side with them if separated 
by a fence, and that cows can suckle the Texan calves, without becoming aff'ected with 
splenic fever. I am not prepared to say that any of the cows purchased by IMr. Sherman 
were fed on hay in the yards wliile they were in the same pen with the Texan cattle, 
but in all probability they were. 

This point has acquired some importance since the British government prohibited the 
importation of hay from the United States. Acting on the side of prudence, with the 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 117 

necessarily limited information that could have been at its disposal when that order was 
issued, and in view of the losses by contagious diseases which have become chronic in the 
British Isles, it was in all probability the only course that could have been adopted. But 
it may be well to state, for future guidance, that it is not possible for bales of hay shipped 
to Europe to carry the splenic fever. For years to come the open prairie lands on which 
we have witnessed the dissemination of the disease cannot yield hay for the markets of 
America; that hay is produced in the Eastern and the Western States, in localities where 
Texan cattle never have been and probably never will be grazed; and, moreover, in the 
fields mown for hay cattle are not pastured. 

The larger tracts of country on which southern droves feed are likely to remain un- 
settled for years to come, and neither scythe nor sickle has ever reached them. England 
is as likely to get rinderpest as splenic fever from America ; and the only way in which it 
might see the latter would be by transporting herds of Gulf-coast cattle across the Atlantic, 
to feed on British pasture lands, side by side with British slock. 



The influence of seasons on the development of splenic fever is most marked. A few 
nipping frosts check its ravages anywhere and everywhere. In Missouri and Kansas it 
has broken out as late as October and December. Thus, in the report of the Department 
of Agriculture for 1867, it was stated from Christian County, Missouri, that, in 1866, 
"Spanish fever was introduced into the western part of this county by droves of Texas 
cattle, passing in October." From Woodson County, Kansas, it was reported that the 
"Spanish fever broke out in December, and raged until the 1st of January, %oKen the cold 
weather set in and checked it." The droves of Texan cattle, wliicli communicate the 
disease during the' summer, leave Texas by the close of winter; so that the Texan winter 
in no way interferes with the development of that state of system which renders Texan 
herds so dangerous. 

In a case reported, too vaguely to be of real value, in the report of the Department 
of Agriculture for 1867, we are informed that, in Douglas County, Kansas, "the Spanish 
fever, or something similar, made its appearance about the 1st of February, among a few 
cattle that were driven from the South." In all probability this was not splenic fever; and 
the reporter adds: "I think the severity of the winter caused the greatest loss; about one- 
third of all the cattle brought from the south have died." It is certain that, in States 
north of Missouri and Kansas, splenic fever prevails in the months of June, July, August, 
and September. Straggling cases may occur in May and in October; but the great losses 
are observed during the four months just named. 

Does this depend on the influence of heat and drought, or on the accidental circum- 
stances that Texan cattle have been mainly distributed over the country during these 
months? The second is the main reason; but it is impossible for me to reconcile many 
observations which I have made with the idea that heat does not favor the development of 
the disorder. It is not sufficient to name it, but it is asserted by practical men that Texan 
cattle can be handled most safely when the summers are wet and cool. The wet may wash 
the grasses, but the cold seems to favor a constitutional resistance to the attacks of the dis- 
ease. A record of the cases which demonstrate that Texan cattle can be freely placed with 
western stock in winter would fill a volume. At Broadlands, Hickory Grove, near Cham- 




113 DEPARTMENT OF AGPICULTUEE. 

pai^n, and in a host of other places, southern cattle, purcliased last fall, were placed with 
indigenous stock, have remained with them ever since, and have induced no disease. This 
is very generally known and admitted. A reporter from Cedar County, Missouri, writing 
in 1866, said: "It is thought that our cattle would not take the disease in the winter sea- 
son, but this may be only conjecture, as no large droves have yet been driven here from 
the South in the winter." Of late years, however, there has been an effort to drive from 
Texas for the October and November markets, and we have not heard of a single case 
where stock-drivers, up at that time, had done any mischief in Illinois or Indiana. Nip- 
ping frosts may and do kill the disease, by destroying the pasture, and compelling people 
to feed their cattle. This completely arrests that method of transmission, which I believe 
to be the main or only one. As soon as western stock is removed from the pasture on which 
Texan cattle have been fed, it is safe; and this is an unanswerable argument in favor of 
the views I have promulgated since the time of my first observations. It is not the breath, 
nor the saliva, nor cutaneous emanations which are charged with the poisonous principle, 
but the ftcces and the urine. 

It has, however, been very generally remarked that Texan cattle are covered with 
the tick. I owe to the kindness of C. V. Riley, esq.. State entomologist of Missouri, a 
v-^M«>-' drawing of the tick as found on Texan cattle. In the annexed 
c:^?^ HlirW~i engravings are an upper and an under view. As the legs do not 
(\ /T|';|j\ alter in size in j^roportion to the body, a view has been given 
NAT.sizE X^fJi^ of a smaller specimen between the two. This tick belongs to 
the Class Arachnidcc, Order Trachearice, and Family Ixodidce. It has .eight fine, jointed 
legs. It is not confined to cattle in the South, and is seen in many woodland pastures of 
the United States. For convenience, and to distinguish this species from Ixodes reticula- 
ius, I propose to call it Ixodes indentatus, from the peculiar indentations on the body and 
absence of stripes. These ticks fasten on the bodies of native cattle, and breed. The 
young ticks are distributed in myriads on the grasses, and it has been supposed that the 
grasses are thus poisoned.'-' 

The "tick theory" has acquired quite a renown during the past summer; but a little 
thought should have satisfied any one of the absurdity of the idea. 

1st. Ticks are not easily fenced on a piece of land by a wood fence, as cattle are. A 
wood fence sufiiciently isolates cattle to prevent splenic fever. 

2d. We have seen Texan cattle both alive and dead, and also dead western, quite 
free from these parasites. There has been no relation whatever between the abundance 

• The following remarks on the Ixodes bovig are from C. V. Eiley, St. Louis, Missouri : 

Ixodm fcorin, (Rilpy.) — A ic(l(li.sli, toriiiceous, flattened .sjiecies, with the body oljlong-oval, contracted just behind 
tbi- nii(l(Uc, an! with two bjiifritudinal ini|)i'rssions abf)vc this contraction, and three below it, more especially visible 
in till' dried »iieeinion. Head short anil broad, not spincd liehiud, with two deep, round pits. Palpi and beak together 
uniiiiually slioi-t, the palpi being slender. Labium short and broad, densely spined beneath. Mandibles smooth above, 
with terminal hooks. Thoracic shield distinct, one-third longer than wide, smooth and polished ; convex, with the 
lyrate medial convexity very distinct. Legs long and slender, pale testaceous red ; coxa- not spined. Length of body, 
.1.') of an inch ; width, .nil of an inch. Missouri Coll., ('. V. Riley. 

This is the cattle tick of the Western States. .Several hinidred s]iecimens, iu different stages of growth, have also 
been received from I'ulvon, west coast of Nicaragua, taken from the horned cattle, and on a species of Dasyjirocia, by Mr. 
J. McNeil. They preserve the elongated tiattened form, with the body contracted behind the middle, by which this 
sjiecics may be easily identified. The largest specimens measure ..'ifl by .ISO of an inch. AVheii gorged with blood they 
are nearly as thick tlirmigh as they are broad. In the freshly-hatched hexapodoiis young, and the yonug in the next 
stage of growth, the thoracic shield is one-third the size of the whole body, which is pale yellowish, with very distinct 
ereuiilations on the hinder edge. Thr fourth pair of legs is addiil apjiarently at the first nimilt. It is lallod " riamj>ala '' 
by the inhabitants of Nicaragua. 



THE SPLENIC FEVEK. 119 

of ticks and the severity of the disorder. The malady has Ijeen quito as malignant where 
few or no ticks occurred. 

3d. We have been asked to watch for the irritating parasites in the stomach and 
intestines, and it was believed that they acted mechanically; but we have never seen a 
tick during an 3^ stage of its development in the alimentary canal. 

4th. The tick is not confined to Gulf-coast cattle, which we know communicate this 
disease ; but it is met with in various parts of the States where cattle are reared that 
never cause splenic fever. Why should the ticks not communicate the malady from west- 
ern cattle to other cattle, if they can induce it by crawling from the Texan to western 
stock? Many erroneous views as to the origin and propagation of the Texan fever may 
be set at rest by showing what it is not; and for this reason I shall proceed to discuss 
the analogies and differences between splenic fever and other disorders afflicting cattle, 
and even the human species. 

THE NATURE OF SPLENIC FEVER. 

The history of splenic fever would seem to indicate its complete isolation from every 
disease, and especially every form of plague hitherto described. But a careful study of 
its progress and development, with the light afforded by a knowledge of other cattle dis- 
eases, enables us to demonstrate points of great resemblance, and indeed of identity with 
maladies which annually recur in various parts of the world. It is, moreover, important, 
in a practical point of view, to show how it differs from maladies which spread from 
country to country, and from the east westward, devastating broad tracts of land, and 
calling for the most decisive and energetic means for their suppression. 

Splenic fever is not an epizootic, properly so called. It is not propagated through 
time and space by contagion. The true plague of animals, or epizo(3tics, such as the Rus- 
sian murrain or rinderpest, the lung plague or contagious pleuropneumonia of cattle, the 
foot and the mouth diseases of all warm-blooded animals, variolous fevers, hydrophobia, 
and the like, spread by direct or indirect transference of an animal poison, a virus, from sick 
to healthy animals; and in the Old World the sick, as a rule, indicate, by very manifest 
outward symptoms, the disease under which they are laboring. 'The poisons take effect 
without regard to seasons, and are alike developed in the systems of sick animals. It is not 
contact between Texan and southern or western cattle that induces the malady; and, so 
far as recorded observations and my own inquiries at present extend, the animals contami- 
nated by feeding on Texan trails have not in a single instance propagated the disease to 
other animals. Indeed, I have not met with one instance where sucking calves have 
caught the affection from their dams, or from other cows which they have been made to 
suck. Many cases have come under my observation of cattle in' Illinois, Indiana, and 
elsewhere, coming in contact with Texan cattle through a fence, by drinking of the same 
water, and even being housed in sheds with sick natives, and yet escaping the disease. 
We must, therefore, distinguish it from the contagious maladies alluded to, and refer it to 
another group. 

Splenic fever is an enzootic. It originates in various parts of the Gulf States. 
Florida cattle driven north are as dangerous as Texans, deriving the same deleterious 
properties from the soil on which they are reared, and in all jn'obability the vegetation 
on which they feed. In the South, splenic fever is distinctly indigenous, and, so far as 



120 DEPARTMEXT OF AGRICULTUEE. 

Texas is concerued, I liave satisfied myself tliat tlie disease is universally prevalent in 
that State.- 

Its complete manifestation is readily witnessed in States north of 34° north latitude. 
Here the malady can no longer be declared indigenous; but there are numerous instances 
which can be cited of purely enzootic diseases spreading a certain distance by contagion. 
Two of the most marked instances are furnished us by the malignant anthrax of Russia, 
better known as the Siberian boil plague, and the milk-sickness, or trembles, of the United 
States. 

The milk-sickness is due to cattle feeding on low woodland pastures, where certain 
poisonous plants abound. It originates only in a very limited area of country; but the 
animals may travel, and their flesh and milk will communicate the disease when eaten 
by other animals, and even by human beings. Trembles is, therefore, an enzootic disorder, 
capable of being primarily produced only in definite localities ; but the poison which con- 
taminates the food is capable, through that food, of attacking a second and a third 
animal, or as many as partake of it. There is another striking similarity between the 
course of milk-sickness and splenic fever. The animal food, poisoned in the disease-pro- 
ducing district, mav show no signs of disease, unless subjected to a definite existing cause, 
such as being driven or frightened. In classifying trembles among the diseases of the 
lower animals we should undoubtedly place it among the effects of vegetable poisons, and 
study it as a very remarkable toxicological phenomenon. I should be disposed to deal 
with splenic fever in the same way. Southern cattle, accustom-ed to feed on certain pas- 
tures in Florida and Texas, thrive, and their systems become charged with principles 
which are thrown off in the excretions for many weeks, and probably two or three months 
after they leave their native soil. Herds of these animals necessarily deposit a large 
amount of whatever they excrete ; and thus pastures are contaminated, the grasses of 
which prove deadly poisons to healthy and susceptible cattle. It is certain that the feeding 
of cattle on the land over which Texan animals have passed is the ordinary, and probably 
invariable, cause of splenic fever. 

The circumstances under which the disease manifests itself tend to favor the view 
tliat it is allied to the numerous forms of anthrax fever which prevail very generally in 
hot countries, and usually in low lands. These diseases, it is true, are scattered through- 
out the temperate zone; but their development depends upon heat, wherever it appears on 
stiff, retentive soils, and in some sandy but fertile lands their ravages are especially wit- 
nessed during wet seasons. Heat favors and creates the manifestations of splenic fever. 
The malady springs in a warm country, and is propagated most readily with heat and 
drought. It is indigenous where vegetation is rank, and the soil is charged with an excess 
of organic life, which, for want of direction, tends to waste and mischief. During the 
hot summer months anthrax or carbuncular fevers force the stock-owners of Southern 
Europe to seek the hills with their flocks of sheep and goats; and to disregard this injunc- 
tion involves,' not only the death of their animals, but the destruction of other warm-blooded 
creatures, including man himself, by malignant pustule. To this category undoubtedly 
belonged the various pests of old; and, by traveling northward, the virulence of these 
diseases, the development of the anthrax poison, and the propagation, under any circum- 
stances, by contagion, diminish by simple and imperceptible gradations, and ultimately 
cease. The black- water of Great Britain and of America is one of the forms of this 
deadly anthrax, which, even so far north as Aberdeen, in Scotland, has been coramuni- 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 121 

cated, by the flesh eaten, to a whole family of human beings, who succumbed from 
malignant pustule. The Siberian boil plague is one of the typical forms of anthrax, and 
its history in relation to splenic fever is interesting, inasmuch as it occurs in a vast country, 
where stock is driven in masses from the east westward ; and an opportunity is thus 
afforded for contagious transmission which is not often witnessed elsewhere. 

Many so-called blood diseases, all enzootic in their nature, and capable of limited 
transmission, are classified by the ablest veterinary pathologists of France and Germany 
with the anthrax fevers. In Germany the most destructive forms are so often characterized 
by enlargement, softening, and even rupture of the spleen, that the forms of anthrax are 
included under a generic term, " Milzbrand." The condition of the spleen in splenic fever 
would induce many a pathologist to classify it unhesitatingly among the forms of "Milz- 
brand." But there is a line of demarcation which, in my opinion, can be fairly established. 

Southern cattle capable of propagating this disease usually start from their homes in 
the winter or early in spring. They do not die, as is always the case where anthrax originates, 
in large numbers, so as to attract decided attention, on the lands which foster the develop- 
ment of that subtle poison they carry northward. Their systems are not charged with an 
inoculable virus, such as the anthrax poison always is, when there is a sufficient heat to 
develop it. The heat during the summer of 1868 was higher than is usually required for 
the production of the anthrax virus. The best and fattest animals in a herd are the first 
to die of anthrax, and death is sudden and unexpected; an animal in the apparent enjoy- 
ment of health at night is dead before morning, or seen well in the morning and found 
dead by noon. French authors speak of their dying "d'une apoplexie fulminante." Had 
the cattle which have been slaughtered as human food during the past summer, in Chicago 
and elsewhere, been tainted with a true anthrax, as they have been with splenic fever, medi- 
cal reports would have developed many instances of malignant pustule in man, which they 
have not done. With the thermometer at 108° or 110° such a result would have been 
inevitable. 

There is one disease in Europe, which prevails in various parts of the United King- 
dom, and is common on woodland pastures during the spring and summer months, which 
presents most of the characteristics of splenic fever. It is the black-water, enzootic 
hsematuria, or bloody urine, which on the banks of the Dee, in Aberdeenshire, is termed 
the "darn." The Germans call it " Ulutharnen," " Rothhamen," " Maiseuche," " Weide- 
bruch," and speak of it as an enzootic occurring in spring and summer among "grazing" 
cattle. It is described as characterized by bloody urine and weakness of gait in hind 
quarters, associated in some cases with intense fever, and in others with the weakness of 
ancemia, or the bloodless state. There is sometimes discharge of a little blood with the 
fteces. There is occasionally diarrhcea, but more commonly the excrement is nearly of 
normal character. After death the bladder is found distended with bloody urine ; the 
kidneys are dark colored, and their pelves distended with similar urine; the blood is dark, 
the liver usually light colored, but the spleen congested, and of a dark color, and there 
are blood extravasations on the mucous and the serous membrane. Indeed, Spinola speaks 
of the fourth stomach, and even the intestines, as being much inflamed. It is important 
and instructive to notice the circumstances under which enzootic hsematuria occurs in Great 
Britain, and other parts of Europe. Since the introduction of turnip husbandry, a malady 
has arisen among cows, after calving, which is usually known as "red water," due to the 
10 



122 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

condition of turni2:>s grown on ill-drained lands. In 185G I was engaged in investigating 
the diseases of Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire, for the Highland and Agricultural 
Society of Scotland. I then distinctly ascertained that tracts of land of the same charac- 
ter, and adjoining one another, grew turnips capable or incapable of producing the dis- 
ease, according to the state of drainage. Indeed, farmers whose lands were well cultivated 
were sometimes surrounded by poor people, growing turnips on small plats, or so-called 
"pendules," of the same lands, but without the advantages of good drainage. The farm- 
ers' cows were healthy; whereas those fed on the poor people's crops suffered from "red 
water," after calving. This is a distinct form of enzootic hsematuria, due apparently to 
some modifications in the character of a root, grown on damp and retentive soils. It is, 
therefore, proved that the conditions of soil may injuriously affect domestic animals, and 
produce a definite and distinct disease, through foods that are usually wholesome. But 
the enzootic hasmaturia which does not depend on a root crop, and which attacks steers, 
heifers, pregnant and even calving cows, has usually been ascribed, like the milk-sick- 
ness of Illinois, to some definite poison ; and the singular manifestations of the disease, 
as it travels from Texas, would give weight to such an opinion. The "darn" of Aber- 
deenshire was supposed at one time to be due to a harmless, wild anemone, and afterward 
to the "darnel grass," or Lolium temulentwm, ; but the opinion which I formed on the 
spot was, that the cattle died from eating the young shoots of oaks, and other astringent 
plants. 

Medical men have had their attention directed to this subject during the past sum- 
mer; and, in some instances, they have referred to it as a malignant typhus or typhoid 
fever. It is widely different from both in its origin, development, and progress. The 
morbid lesions, so far as blood extravasations are concerned, might suggest an analogy to 
tyjjhus; but this is not the only disease associated with blood changes and petechice. Who 
ever saw a spontaneous development of malignant typhus on the healthy, open prairies 
of this country, even in man? If it be typhus, how is it that it is not contagious, and 
certainly not infectious? If typhus, why do not the sick western steers communicate it as 
readily as the Texan cattle? It is assuredly neither typhus nor typhoid fever; and its origin, 
in the causes which we have reason to believe operate most in its production in the South, 
approaches ague more closely than any other disorder. Splenic fever is not an intermit- 
tent or remittent disease; but it probably manifests itself spontaneously in districts, such 
as are commonly invaded by malaria, and this is what we see constantly in relation to the 
enzootic diseases of animals, and especially those in which the spleen has a tendency to 
congestion, hemorrhage, and enlargement. 

There is really no analogue in man, so far as my observations extend ; and, in stating 
that the circumstances of its development resemble the reputed results of malarious 
intoxication, it must not be thought that I believe in the commonly accepted, but very 
vague and unsatisfactory, notions as to the nature of malaria. The conclusions, therefore, 
which I am disposed to draw from all the facts and arguments adduced in relation to the 
causes and nature of splenic fever, are — 

1. That southern cattle, especially from the Gulf coast, are affected with a latent or 
an apparent form of the disease. 

2. That they become affected in consequence of the nature of the soil and vegetation 
on which thoy are fed, and the water which they drink. 



THE SPLENIC FEVEli. ' 123 

3. That their systems are charged with poisonous principles which accumulate in the 
bodies of acclimatized animals that enjoy an immunity. 

4. That southern cattle may be driven so as to improve in condition ; and yet for 
some weeks, and probably not less than three months, continue to excrete the deleterious 
principles which poison the cattle of the States through Avliich the herds are driven on their 
way north or west. 

5. That all breeds of cattle in States north of those on the Gulf coast, without 
regard to age or sex, if they feed on grass contaminated by southern droves, are attacked 
by the splenic fever; that the disease may be, but is very rarely, propagated through the 
feeding of hay. 

6. That the disease occurs mainly during the hot months of summer and autumn, and 
never after the wild grasses have been killed by frosts, until the mild weather in spring 
returns ; that then the grasses are healthy, and continue healthy, unless fresh droves of 
Texan or of Florida cattle are driven over the land. 

7. That heat and drought aggravate the disease in individual animals. 

8. That there is not the slightest foundation for the view that the ticks disseminate 
the disease. 

9. That the splenic fever does not belong to that vast and deadly group of purely 
contagious and infectious diseases of which the rinderpest, the lung plague, and eruptive 
fevers are typical. 

10. That it is an enzootic, due to local influences, capable of only a limited spread, 
and analogous to or identical with the "black water" of various parts of Europe. 

11. That, however warm the weather may be, cattle affected with splenic fever 
have not developed in their systems any poison like the anthrax poison; and that the 
flesh, blood, and other tissues of animals are incapable of inducing any disease in man or 
animals. 

12. That splenic fever is not malignant typhus or typhoid fever. That it has no 
analogue among human diseases, but is, however, developed under conditions which prevail 
where the so-called malaria injuriously affects the human health. 

CURATIVE TREATMENT. 

The great majority of epizootic and enzootic diseases never can, and never will, be 
arrested by the medical treatment of the sick. Even the benignant epizootic aphthte, 
which is rarely fatal, spreads rapidly through a country; and, in the long run, owing to 
the certainty and rapidity of its transmission, entails more loss than some of the most fatal 
diseases. Splenic fever may be classed among the incurable maladies, inasmuch as we know 
of no antidote to the mysterious poison inducing it; and, while we can alleviate some of 
the sufi'erings of the afiected cattle, a very trifling measure of success attends the most 
assiduous nursing and medication. Bleeding has been, in some parts, a favorite remedy; 
and I have known one animal recover either in consequence or in spite of the remedy. 
Purgatives have been freely and fairly tried, with good result in very few instances, and 
with depressing and killing influences in many more. 

The "red water" of cows in Scotland is often cured by opiates, which check the dis- 
charge of blood; and with alcoholic stimulants in moderation, with the free use of mucil- 
aginous drinks. I have tried the same treatment in splenic fever, with little or no success. 



124 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

Pac'e after page might be filled with notes on the administration of nitrate and of chlorate 
of potash, iodide of potassium, quinine, salts of iron, sesquicarbonate of ammonia, Epsom 
or Glauber's salts, sulphur, ginger, calomel, soap, and oil ; and even guano from the 
goose cote has been said "frequently to effect a cure, given in doses of one quart, until a 
thorough evacuation is produced." A reporter from Woodson County, Kansas, says this 
is "a sovereign and unfailing remedy for the dry murrain." None of these agents (and 
some have been extolled as specific) have affected the steady progress and fatality of the 
disease. 

Shelter, protection from flies, linseed or flaxseed tea, friction of the limbs, and injec- 
tions, are humane, and, to a trifling extent, useful expedients. I have seen cows return to 
nearly their full quantity of milk on such treatment, with the aid of half-ounce doses of 
sulphuric ether, in four ounces of the solution of the acetate of ammonia and a quart of 
water, given thrice daily. Relief has been afforded by giving an ounce of tincture of 
opium for the first day or two ; but to enter further into the history of experiments on this 
point is to recount a history of failures such as the world is accustomed to, in speaking of 
the medical treatment of human cholera and small-pox, or rinderpest and the deadly forms 
of anthrax in cattle. 

THE PREVENTION OF SPLENIC FEVER. 

The main object of the investigation which has brought to light the facts noted in 
the foregoing pages, has been the discovery of means whereby the direct and the indii'ect 
losses sustained for several years past, but especially in 186S, may not again harass Amer- 
ican farmers, and injure the traders in Texan cattle. Hitherto the only measures sug- 
gested, and very partially adopted, have consisted eitlier in prohibiting the importation of 
southern cattle into certain States, or portions of States; and, in one instance, in prevent- 
ing their introduction only during the summer months. 

Stringent laws have failed to avert the most disastrous and wide-spread losses ; and 
while on the one hand persons interested in the Texan trade have justified their inattention 
to legal restrictions by declaring them one and all unconstitutional, instances have not 
been wanting of mob law adopting its own expedients. Dealers and farmers who owned 
southern cattle have been threatened — they have been pounced on in the dead of night, 
that they might surely be found in their homes — and there and then they have been 
requested to attend meetings of indignant and impoverished neighbors. Lastly, the stam- 
peding and shooting of Texan cattle, whenever and wherever they might be seen, have 
been the mild alternatives which seem to have satisfied a thirst for revenge ; or, in some 
instances, human life would, in all probability, have been sacrificed. Indeed, threats have 
been numerous, and heavy bonds or the actual payment of cash for dead, dying, and 
infected stock, have alone saved the persons of traders, commission agents, and farmers, 
who happened to have any dealings in long-horned beeves. The prevention of splenic 
fever, therefore, implies, in many instances, the prevention of lawlessness and the preserva- 
tion of the public peace. 

We have seen that splenic fever is a malad}' indigenous to Texas. It is there an 
enzootic, and whatever may be the plant or plants inducing the disorder, it is indisputable 
that the conditions exist there which are rife in all parts of the world where enzootic 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 125 

blood diseases, fatal parasitic maladies, and periodic outbreaks of mysterious aflections, 
wliich annihilate herds and even depopulate districts, occasionally prevail. 

The extirpation of noxious plants, the purification of streams, the equalization of 
the balance between animal and plant life on a given extent of soil, are agricultural 
problems which cannot, in Texas, be solved for generations to come. Thorough drainage, 
breaking up pasture lands, fencing off low wood lands wliich are crammed with a disease- 
producing vegetation, are measures neglected even in Great Britain, and will tax the indus- 
try and capital of many of the sons and grandsons of the present race of farmers, north, 
east, and west, in the United States; how much longer, then, must the exuberant soil of 
Texas wait for the hands and the brains engaged in making two blades of grass grow where 
there was once but one? Fertile, and reeking with the decay of excess as it is, we can- 
not anticipate the time when it will be so densely peopled as to secure attention to definite 
sanitary laws which, if not impracticable under the circumstances, might be applied for 
the prevention of splenic fever in Texas, Florida, or wherever else it may be discovered to 
exist as an enzootic. 

The question next presents itself whether the trade in live cattle between the South 
and the North is to be permitted. Its annihilation would effectually prevent such out- 
breaks, as I have had occasion to study; but such an expedient, though it might commend 
itself to some short-sighted farmers in Illinois and Indiana, would not be tolerated. It is 
true that, notwithstanding all the difficulties experienced in the past, wherever attempts 
have been made in the South to slaughter, and consign their animal produce to northern 
and other markets, the time will arrive, in all probability, for some such outlet to be 
secured. But, with beef at twenty, twenty-five, or thirty cents per pound in Philadelphia, 
New York, and Boston, with the packing interests of Chicago, and the demands of Europe, 
especially in times of war, it is idle to contemplate the fencing in of steers, which may be 
purchased by thousands and tens of thousands at eight or ten dollars a head in Texas. 
The prairie lands of States favored by geographical position, and nearest the great cen- 
ters of consumption for all animal produce, cannot be utilized for some time to come with- 
out the advantage of supplying food for stock bred at a little cost elsewhere. 

To suit a northern trade the Texan will doubtless attend to crossing his cattle with 
short-horned blood; and this, while it will encourage the purchase of such animals by the 
farmers of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, will in no way tend to modify splenic fever. 
Fortunately for all, it is possible to estabhsh rules which, if intelligently attended to, will 
effectually protect any susceptible animal from destruction by contact with members of its 
own race from the Gulf States. All these rules must aim at a complete isolation for a 
sufficient period of time. 

With our present state of knowledge it is imperative that we should deal with all 
cattle from the Gulf States in the same way. But numerous observations warrant us in 
beHeving that a careful study of the geographical distributions of the splenic fever in the 
South would indicate that there are broad tracts of land in Texas where the stock is free 
from all contamination, and may, in all probability, be freely mixed with cattle in any 
part of the States. It would not be safe to indicate the regions supposed to be healthy, 
as they may be more or less intersected by plague-stricken spots ; but it is sate to assert 
that the most decided and best ascertained manifestations of disease, and capability of 



126 DEPAKTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 

communicating disease, have been observed among herds derived from and near the Gulf 
coast. 

That the hardships and privations to which Gulf-coast cattle are subjected in being 
transported to New Orleans, and up the Mississippi in steamers, may act as existing causes 
to the full development of fatal symptoms is probable; but such and similar prejudicial 
influences do not, and cannot, engender the disease. They may facilitate intelligent 
observations; and a competent veterinarian, inspecting the dead and injured cattle taken 
into the port of New Orleans or landed at Cairo, might add very largely to our store of 
knowledge on this and allied subjects. Such inspection might be of value in securing the 
isolation of badly infected herds, inasmuch as ordinary observers have noticed, where 
opportunities were afforded for seeing many herds from the Gulf coast, that some were 
apparently sound, while others numbered many sick and dying animals. Wherever such 
cattle are landed there should be a sufficient amount of closely-fenced land, beyond which 
the cattle should not be permitted to pass on foot. They might be transpoi'ted thence by 
rail, but only to definite points for immediate slaughter, or to certain stations on railroad 
lands, where they can be placed alone, and without coming in contact with other cattle. 

There are serious impediments in the way which may prevent the adoption of the 
last suggestion; but, having stated the principles which should govern legislation in this 
matter, we must leave the practical working of any well-matured scheme to those whose 
interests are at stake. Thus, if the stock taken from the cars at Tolono (and which 
destroyed almost every cow owned there) had been unloaded by the inhabitants in inclosed 
yards at a distance from the town, and then driven through a fenced road on which no 
other cattle were permitted to pass, it would have caused no loss. It must be left to local 
authorities to state whence, when, and how such stock shall be driven to secure such 
isolation ; and it will probably be found most practicable, under such circumstances, to 
limit the traveling of Texan cattle on foot to the winter season, when the grasses are 
withered and the local stock is tended at home. Indeed, if a definite tract of prairie 
ground is devoted anywhere to the Texan trade, the conditions required for the prevention 
of splenic fever consist in the people keeping their cattle on their own inclosed farms or 
in well-fenced yards and feeding sheds. 

A visit to the far West will convince any impartial person that judgment and enter- 
prise can be exercised with a certainty of success in enabling Texan drovers to drive to 
points on the Union Pacific Road, Eastern Division, where they can do no harm Traveling 
north from Texas through the Indian Nation into Western Kansas can inflict no injury. 
With the completion of the Union Pacific Road to San Francisco, it is not improbable that 
drovers may find it to their advantage to drive further than they usually do now, and 
make for other stations; but, whatever course they adojit in this respect, they can safely 
relieve the overstocked State of Texas by utilizing the vast prairies of the West in their 
important trade. 

The question to settle is whether they should travel earlier in the season or later. It 
is my opinion that, if they wish to hear no more of splenic fever, they should reach 
Western Kansas in the summer or in early autumn, keeping their stock fresh on the 
abundant grasses, and shipping it East when the packing season commences, about the 
middle of October. An experiment on a large scale has been made by Messrs. McCoy 
Brothers, at Abilene. This spot on the eastern division of the Union Pacific Road was 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 127 

selected as the moat isolated, and it is situated within four hundred miles of the Texan 
frontier and one hundred and sixty-three miles west from the State line. 

It is east of the sixth meridian, which is the line established by the laws of Kansas 
as the limit over which Texan cattle shall not pass ; but, by common consent, the advan- 
tages offered by this spot have been hitherto secured to the Texan trade. The yards were 
completed by the 5th of September, 1867, and from that time to the close of the season 
one thousand car loads of cattle were shipped east from Abilene. The trade, therefore, 
began late, the season was wet, and the Texas fever gave no concern. This year, how- 
ever, large herds were collected early in the spring in Texas, and the first car load of 
cattle left Abilene on the 10th of June. 

The people of the new town and its neighborhood had accumulated more live stock 
than they had last year, and, without taking the precaution which could readily have 
been adopted, permitted their cattle to go over the ground traversed by Texan stock, and 
"black-water" appeared among them. 

It is evident that, as the property of a very large and important town may be founded 
on this very traffic, precautionary measures should be adopted for the isolation of the local 
stock. There can be no difficulty in this ; and, with the experience of 1867 before us, 
the system of driving late for the fall markets is calculated to preserve the most promising 
of all outlets for southern farmers and drovers. There are objections, perhaps, to this 
plan ; but, since it is impossible for the trade to go on in a reckless and ill-regulated 
manner, it is for the interest of all that the least objectionable plan, and yet the one most 
certain to prevent the ravages by disease, should be adopted. 

We are not in a position to recommend any system of quarantine ; but all who intend 
to further the interests of this trade should remember that during the summer season 
they cannot, without damaging their business, intermingle southern with northwestern 
stock. The line of demarcation must be distinct; and whereas in some places the local 
stock must be fenced in, in others the Texan steers will have to submit to some crowding, 
and conditions which are not the most favorable for so large a trade. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PRECEDING REPORTS. 

The diseases of cattle which form the subjects of the three reports herewith published 
are typical of three distinct classes of disorders which tend to the impoverishment of the 
farmer and the country at large. 

The first and simplest in its origin and character is an enzootic or indigenous affection, 
localized in corn-growing States and districts, where, under the influence of abundant 
moisture and inattention to conditions which prevent the propagation of parasitic plants 
on the farmer's crops, a fungus is formed which destroys the nutritive value of cornstalks 
and grain. These become indigestible, induce impaction of the third stomach and consti- 
pation, which speedily terminate in death. The malady is not propagated beyond the 
farm or stable where the diseased fodder is supplied to stock. 

The third is the American cattle plague of 1868, which, from an ignorance of its 
origin and nature, created serious loss, and, what is probably as bad, a panic that cannot 
readily be forgotten, on both sides of the Atlantic. Its study has revealed characters 



128 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

hitherto unknown or undescribecl in relation to any disease of man or animals. The facts 
rendered show that it is developed in the hotter parts of the United States bordering on 
the Gulf coast, where lands are rich, retentive, and undrained, and therefore constitute 
the hotbeds of malarious or periodic diseases in the human family. So far as present 
knowledge goes, it is capable of propagation in an intensified form among cattle which 
feed on pastures traversed, in any part of the country beyond the original centers of 
development, by southern herds. It is not improbable that comparative pathology may 
here shed light on the precise nature of remittent and intermittent fevers in man ; and 
the fact that these have not been observed to extend by a form of contagion may be 
explained by the conditions essential to the propagation of the bovine periodic fever. 
Large masses of animals travel fresh from the breeding grounds of this indigenous 
disease, and discharge large quantities of excrement on the food which is the carrier of 
the morbid material into the systems of cattle that are contaminated and die. It is true 
that anthrax, Siberian boil plague, or carbuncular fevers generally, from a peculiar decom- 
position in the liquids and tissues of the affected animals, are capable of being transferred 
by its inoculation, under favorable circumstances, to healthy people, and indeed to all 
warm-blooded creatures ; but there are indigenous maladies, somewhat allied to the splenic 
fever of cattle, developed under like conditions, and capable of moderate extension from 
the districts where they originate spontaneously. But the cattle in the South are affected 
with a malady that is not inoculable, that is not propagated by the bites of insects and 
by the transference of decomposed or poisoned blood and tissues into the structures of 
healthy men or animals, and manifests in its method of propagation more of the features 
of cholera than of other properly recorded malady. It does not belong to the group of 
epizootics proper, or contagious diseases like pleuropneumonia, rinderpest, and the varied 
forms of variola. It is not an infectious disease ; and the single observation reported by 
the New York commissioners cannot outweigh the hundreds we have observed and care- 
fully traced, and which indicate that the cattle are not discharging, by their breath or 
skin, into the air around them, any principles capable of perpetuating the malady. The 
plagues proper spread regardless of soil, climate, food, geological formation, altitude, &c., 
wherever sick animals approach or touch healthy ones. Splenic fever is not communicated 
by a cow to its calf, and is absolutely stopped by a fence, unless some accident leads to 
the mingling together of the southern animals with others they are capable of injuring. 
The malady, engendered with peculiar virulence in western or eastern cattle, is not, unless 
exceptionally — and no properly attested exception has come to my knowledge — commu- 
nicated by these to other animals that have not traversed the trails of Texan or other 
southern herds. It is a modification, a poisoning of the food and possibly of the water 
tainted by the manure of the southern cattle, whereby the malady is transmitted. It is 
thus with human cholera. I do not wish to be understood that splenic fever is at all allied 
to cholera beyond the peculiar and ordinary method of propagation from certain centers. 
We know nothing of the spontaneous development of cholera and the centers whence it 
springs. We can witness the independent and primary production of the Texas or Florida 
fever by transporting western or eastern cattle to the South, where, fed on the pastures 
apart from other animals, they contract the disease and die. 

Annually the Texan steers sutler, so far as my observations on cattle of all ages go, 
from this .same local influence, whioli, in their acclimatized systems, does not usually lead 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 129 

to death. There is doubtless something tangible and ponderable, which some future 
chemist may reveal, that renders the grasses, and perhaps the waters, of the South so 
deleterious. 

The disease, therefore, to which the third of the annexed reports refers, is an indigen- 
ous or enzootic malady, susceptible of moderate extension by the manner in which the 
grasses of healthy regions are modified by the manure scattered broadcast from the systems 
of southern herds. It is not a contagious plague, and will probably cease when the agri- 
culture of the South is fairly and fully developed. 

Not so with the destructive malady, the lung plague or epizootic pleuropneumonia, 
which is silently but seriously ravaging the Eastern States. This affection constitutes the 
subject of my second report. Its method of propagation, by diffusion of a specific animal 
poison or virus through the air, offers an instructive contrast to the comparatively harm- 
less disease of the South. The lung plague kills slowly and surely wherever it penetrates, 
without regard to latitude, breeds, soils, conditions of weather, or systems of cultivation. 
It can be stamped out ; and its propagation in a mild form may be resorted to for the pro- 
tection of cattle that have been suspected of entering an infected area. It attacks animals 
but once in their lifetime, and presents all the characters of specific eruptive fevers, of which 
the human or ovine small-pox may be regarded typical. 

A few words may not be considered inappropriate as to the nature of our investiga- 
tions. They have extended over a period of ten months, and in all parts of the United 
States except in the far west. The furthest point west which was reached is near the 
terminus of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and southwest to Corpus Christi. The great object 
in view has been to determine and demonstrate with precision the causes and signs of the 
several diseases examined, with a view to the suggestion of means of prevention and cure. 
The history of special outbreaks, the methods of extension, the essential symptoms and 
pathological changes indicated by sick animals, and the institution of careful personal in- 
quiries among those who have witnessed the maladies at different periods, have engaged 
special attention. 

We were first in having opportunities for a careful study of the changes in tempera- 
ture which occur in splenic fever, and, taken in conjunction with similar observations orig- 
inally made by us in relation to the rinderpest or Russian murrain, and since in numerous 
outbreaks of pleuropneumonia, it will be found that very definite and highly practical 
results may be anticipated from persistence in this method of observation. Indeed, so 
important is the matter in connection with the entire subject of comparative pathology, 
that it may not be deemed inappropriate to give a resume of, our operations on this par- 
ticular point. 

Last July we first used the only available thermometers that could be obtained in 
Chicago, centigrade thermometers, of French manufacture. The Surgeon General, how- 
ever, kindly acceded to a request made through the Department of Agriculture, and two 
carefully-compared self-registering thermometers, made by Mr. L. Casella, of London, were 
forwarded to the west for the purpose of our inquiries. With these we were enabled to 
correct and verify the earlier observations. The normal temperature of cattle varies from 
100° to 102° Fahrenheit. The average temperature of Texan cattle is from one to two 
degrees higher than that of northern steers. There may be accidental deviations, of which 
the most noticeable is at the period of (sstrum, when a cow may indicate a temperature as 
17 



130 DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 

high as 106° Fahrenheit. It is, however, remarkable liow tlifficult it is in healthy animals 
to cause any great deviation from a normal standard, even during the hottest days of a 
western summer. Comparative observations on a number of animals at the same time 
constitute a valuable and essential test. It was, however, striking and strange that in 
examining Texan cattle caught with the lasso, the temperatures obtained were the same 
as those among work cattle of the same herds, which could be handled readily near the 
wagons. Observations of this kind are referred to in the report on splenic fever. 

The best part — and the only one which should be chosen — for the insertion of the 
thermometer, is the rectum. The instrument must be introduced as nearly as jjossible to 
the same extent in all cases, and retained in situ at least three minutes. Animals are apt 
to defecate soon after the thermometer is passed in, and the rectum then remains passive 
for a time. This necessitates the withdrawal and reintroduction of the instrument, and 
the time required for the observation must be taken from the second intromission. 

By this means animals in apparent health, grazing and moving in perfect comfort, 
are often found sick; and in the case of a contagious disease like pleuropneumonia this 
timely warning is of the highest moment. 

In relation, however, to the nature of a malady, much is taught us by the thermome- 
ter. The periodic fever of southern cattle begins, like the rinderpest, with an increased 
heat of the body. The local changes appear secondary to the general fever, though it is 
difficult to estimate the time that elapses from the first exaltations of temperature to the 
local manifestations. In pleuropneumonia it is probable, and indeed our observations are 
almost conclusive on the point, that there is first a local change and commencing deposit. 
A material grows and penetrates, charged with and dependent on the presence of a specific 
poison, and when it has sufficiently involved any important parts and become complicated 
with ordinary inflammatory changes, the general fever sets in. An elevated temperature 
is, however, observed in this disease long before a farmer or dairyman suspects that an 
animal is affected. This is the only way in which some latent cases of pleuropneumonia 
are recognized. 

Scientific men have hitherto failed in tracing the distinctive characters of organic 
poisons which differ from each other, and are only recognized, by the very different effects 
produced on the animal economy. Some attack a single species of animal ; others induce 
the same disease in a number of species. The lung-plague poison induces its characteristic 
effects on cattle ; the poison of hydrophobia, most readily communicated among feline and 
carnivorous animals, is deadly to the omnivora and vegetable feeders. Of the peculiar 
principles which tend to the diffusion of those diseases which are known to us as indigenous 
in certain latitudes, and which we must distinguish at all times, in classifying diseases, 
from the contagious maladies of no known primary source, we have two equally remark- 
able instances in the splenic fever of the South and the charbon or anthrax of many parts 
of the world. The one passes from cattle to cattle; the other is deadly to men, horses, 
dogs, pigs, and other warm-blooded animals. 

It is evident that principles which exert such a variety of definite influences must 
have fundamental characters to distinguish them — that the virus of smallpox may some 
day be capable of distinction in its virus form from the virus of rinderpest or the lung- 
plague. 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 131 

As far back as 1849, Mr. L E. Plasse, a veterinary surgeon at Niorl, Deux Sevres, 
in France, published a work, illustrated by tables and a map, in which he announced the 
discovery of the causes of epizootics and epidemics, with the distinguishing features of two 
forms of charbon or anthrax, the one gangrenous and the other virulent.* It is a common 
error, due mainly to the undetermined meaning of a much-used medical term to reo-ard 
epidemics and epizootics as typhoid fevers. Thus confounding many maladies, ]\I. Plasse 
in vainglorious terms which characterize his wliole volume of near 500 pages, says: 
" J'ai reconnu que lesfievres tyjohoides, qui, cliez les animaux, sont nemblahles a celles de 
I'homme, dependent toujours d'une seule et m6me cause : des champignons microscopiques 
introduits dayis I'cconomie animale par les aliments; et je demontrerai clairement que 
to'utes les causes qui ont ete indiquces ne sont quindirectes et determinantes ; quelles sont 
le residtat de I erreur ; et que la veritable cause est une et invariable." M. Plasse was by 
no means the first to point to the lower forms of vegetable life as causes of disease in men 
and animals; but it would be an unprofitable task to enlarge on the earlier hints in this 
great field of error and of mystery. Plasse has the credit of first publishing a comprehen- 
sive volume on the subject; and in his succinct expose of the work before us — an expose. 
which he read before the Institute of France on the 9th of October, 1848 — he says : 

" I have had to substitute the general deuomiuatiou of cryptogamy for the various expressions applied to the 
diseases called typhoid, and I have recognized four states of the cryptogamic maladies. 

"First state, cryptogamic incubation. Tlie toxic principle here may sojourn in the animal economy during a greater 
or less length of time without causing marked functional disturbance ; the disease will nevertheless be recognized by 
certain general symptoms. 

" Second state, cryptogamic elimination. Tliis is the discharge of the poisonous jirinciple from the animal economy, 
without appai-ent functional trouble, whether by the excretions, the embryo in .abortion, or the sucking animal. 

'■ Third state, external cryptogamy. The morbid principle is eliminated without apparent disturbance, and is fixed 
in a more or less apparent manner on the surface of the skin, or in certain cavities which have external openings. In 
this category arc included glanders, farcy, scrofula, lupus, canker of horses' feet, (crapaudlne,) elephantiasis, tinea, 
lepra, &c. 

" Fourth state, cryptogamic fever. Here the toxic principle is precipitated in the incubative stage, either in the 
liquids or in the solids, in the interior, and in a manner whereby it determines a more or less intense and very various 
reaction, aecgrding to the kind of fungus and the system which is aft'ected; thence the diiferent forms of typhoid 
fevers, such as epizootic aphthae, grippe, the contagious tyi)hus of e.ittle, suette miliaire, gangrenous pleuropneumonia, 
variola, scarlatina, &.c." 

M. Plasse heralded forth his great discoveries in terms of no doubtful meaning : 
"G'est d la medicine veterinaire quil ctait reserve d'arriver d ces grandes decouvertes." 
It might be thought that he had arrived at this result after long and painful researches on 
cryptogamic botany, and in demonstrating the presence of the lower forms of plants in 
the tissues of such animals, or in the food which communicated disease. Suffice it to say 
that M. Plasse's observations referred rather to the character of seasons and localities 
remarkable for the development of cryptogamic vegetation, and supposed to induce 
epidemics and epizootics. He has recorded some observations on intestinal disturbance, 
induced by grasses and grains attacked by fungi which he does not name; but, apart from 
these imperfect records, his entire work is based on the crudest hypotheses. 

It is not my object here to give a history of the cryptogamic theories in relation to 
the origin of disease, nor to review the able work of Charles Robin on the parasitic plants 
living on man and animals, nor to analyze the observations of Swayne, Brittain, Budd, 
Baly, Sull, Griffith, Bennett, Robertson, Graves, Swain, Salisbury, Hallier, Richardson, 

* D^couvcrte des causes des fipizooties et des Epidemics; Causes et distinction de deiix genres de Charbon, &.c. 
Par L. E. Plasse. Poitiers, 1849. 



132 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTTJEE. 

Duvuine, De Bary, and many more. Aj^art from tlie views enunciated and slender facts 
recorded, it seems to me essential to the completion of the work undertaken to attempt 
some means whereby it may be shown whether the periodic, or Texas, fever and the lung- 
plague did owe their origin, as alleged by the New York commissioners for the first and 
Hallier and Weiss for the second, to a peculiar cryptogamic vegetation. When in the 
West last summer I had occasion to recommend an investigation of the causes of the 
prevailing cattle fever in the South; and, on its being resolved that I should visit Texas 
for the purposes of this inquiry, I obtained the assent of the Commissioner of Agriculture 
to the selection of Mr. H. W. Ravenel, of Aiken, South Carolina, so well known as an 
enthusiastic and reliable observer and collector in the field of cryptogamic botany, to 
accompany me. 

At the same time Dr. J. S. Billings and Dr. E. Curtis, whose attention has been 
specially directed to the cryptogamic origin of disease, offered to cooperate with me, if I 
would supply material for satisfactory experiments regarding the two diseases named. By 
a favorable arrangement between the Agricultural and Army Medical Departments these 
rejjorts are now enriched by observations of the most reliable and interesting description. 

JOHN GAMGEE, J/. J). 
Hon. Horace Capbon, 

Commissioner of Agriculture. 




THE SPLEEN -INCISED -IN SPLENIC FEVER. 





^6^ 












'.,ri; ;."^t'^\ 





I 




OF THE UTERUS IN SPLENIC FEVER. 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 



133 



APPENDIX. 

WEIGHTS OP LIVER AND SPLEEN. 

The following tables record the weight of the liver and the spleen, healthy and dis- 
eased, of cattle examined during the investigation referred to in the foregoing report : 

August 26 to August 30. 

CHEROKEE SI'LEEXS. 



2i 


2i 


2 


2 


2i 


2i 


24 


2i 


2i 


2+ 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


2 


2 


2i 


2 


3i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


24 


24 


2i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


24 


24 


2 


2 


2i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


3 


24 


2ir 


2i 


24 


24 


24 


2 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


2i 


2i 


2 


2 


2 


2i 


24 


2 


3 


2i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


24 


3 


24 


24 


24 


2i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


2i 


24 


2 


2i 


24 


2i 


2i 


2i 


24 


24 


24 


34 


2* 


24 


2i 


2i 


si 


2* 


2i 


24 


2J 


24 


24 


2J 


2+ 


24 


2i 


2^V 


2i 


24 


24 


24 


2i- 


2+ 


2i 


2i 


2i 


24 


24 


2i 


2 


2 


2i 


24 


2i 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


2i 




































Total. 


































300+ 


Aver'e 


































9 SR 
























1 






1 



TEXAN SPLEENS. 



34 


3 


24 


3 


34 


24 


24 


4 


3+ 


3 


24 


34 


3 


2+ 


3 


2+ 


2 


2+ 


24 


34 


24 


24 


24 


34 


34 


24 


3 


2 


3 


3+ 


24 


24 


24 


24 


34 


24 


24 


3 


3 


24 


24 


2 


24 


34 


24 


3 


34 


2+ 


4 


34 


3 


24 


34 


34 


34 


24 


34 


24 


24 


24 


24 


24 


3+ 


2A 


3 


34 


4 


3 


24 


2 


24 


24 


3 


34 


3 


24 


24 


34 


34 


24 


3i 


2+ 


34 


24 


24 


3+ 


24 


3 


3 


34 


3 


34 


34 


24 


2 


24 


34 


34 


34 


24 


3 


34 


3 


24- 


34 


2 


34 


34 


24 


34 


34 


34 


24 


24 


24 


3 


3 


34 


34 


34 


2 


24 


34 


34 


34 


34 


24 


3 


34 


34 


34 


2 


24 


24 


34 


24 


24 


24 


3 


24 


24 


34 


34 


3 


24 


24 


34 


3 


24 


3 


2 


2A 


24 


34 


24 


3 


34 


2 


24 


3 


24 


4 


24 


24 


24 


24 


3 


24 


2+ 


24 


24 


34 


2 


34 


24 


3 


24 


24 


2 


24 


34 


24 


24 


24 


24 


3 


24 
























Total - 


































523 




























1 






2 79 





































NATIVE SPLEENS. 



14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


ji 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


2 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 




14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


■14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


























Total. 


































1834 
1.39 


Aver'e 







































































Note. — By the term "native," as here applied to cattle or tlieir diseased organs, is me.ant cattle not raised in dis- 
tricts in which the infection originated. 



134 



DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 

Native cattle. 



Date. 


c 




Date. 


1 




Date. 


a 


> 


Date. 


S 


fe 

g 




CO 


;^ 




1 


J 




"Hi 


a 




cc 


3 


Sept. 6 


1 


10 


Sept. 10 


14 


10 


Sept. 11 


14 


9 


Sept. 13 


14 


16 




li 


11 




14 


11 




1 


11 




1 


8 




1 


9 




14 


9 




14 


12 




1 


7 


Sipt. 9 


14 


14 




14 


16 




1 


10 




1 


6 




2 


15 




14 


10 




14 


11 




14 


11 




H 


15 




14 


11 




14 


11 




14 


13 




1* 


13 




14 


11 




14 


11 




14 


12 




H 


13 




14 


11 




14 


11 




14 


10 




2 


13 




14 


12 




14 


10 




14 


13 




2 


13 




2 


10 




14 


9 




14 


7 




2 


12 




14 


9 




14 


9 




14 


9 




H 


10 




14 


8 




2 


13 




14 


12 




u 


12 




14 


12 




2 


16 




14 


16 




2 


13 




14 


11 




14 


18 




1 


8 




H 


11 




14 


11 




14 


9 




1 


6 




H 


12 




14 


12 




14 


16 




14 


9 




li 


10 




14 


13 




14 


11 




1+ 


12 




1 


9 




14 


11 




2 


14 




14 


9 




1 


8 




14 


13 




1 


10 




1 


8 




u 


10 




14 


11 




14 


13 




14 


10 




1 


9 




2 


12 




14 


12 




14 


14 




^ 


10 




14 


12 




14 


14 




14 


10 




2 


10 




2 


10 




14 


16 




1 


•' 




1 


8 




1 


9 




14 


9 




14 


8 




14 


9 




14 


15 




14 


13 


1 


7 




14 


10 




2 


14 




14 


12 


Sept. 14 H 


10 




IJ 


9 




1 


12 




14 


12 


14 


9 




i 


5 




2 


16 




14 


13 


u 


10 




1 


8 




14 


13 




14 


14 




14 


9 




14 


10 




14 


12 




14 


12 




14 


9 




1 


6 




2 


13 




2 


16 




14 


8 




14 


10 




14 


12 




2 


13 




14 


8 




1 


8 




2 


13 




14 


14 




1 


6 




2 


14 




14 


12 




14 


14 




14 


11 




1 


9 


■ 


2 


14 




14 


13 




'14 


10 




U 


9 




1 


9 




1 


10 




14 


12 




2 


8 




li 


9 




14 


12 




14 


16 




1 


9 




14 


10 




1 


9 




14 


20 




14 


12 




1 


10 




14 


14 




14 


16 




U 


9 




14 


9 




14 


12 




n 


13 




14 


12 




1 


10 




14 


13 




14 


9 




14 


10 




H 


11 


Sept. 13 


14 


11 




li 


6 




14 


13 




1 


10 




2 


12 




14 


8 




14 


15 




li 


11 




14 


13 




14 


16 




1 


12 




1 


9 




2 


15 




14 


13 




1 


13 




14 


12 




1 


11 




U 


12 




14 


10 




24 


12 




14 


12 




14 


11 




2 


17 




1 


8 




2 


12 




14 


8 




14 


13 




1 


11 




14 


12 




14 


9 




14 


13 




1 


10 




2 


15 




14 


10 


Srpt. 10 


14 


9 




1 


11 




14 


14 




14 


10 




1 


8 h Sept. 11 


1 


10 




2 


13 




14 


12 




14 


8 




1 


10 




14 


10 




14 


12 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 

Native cattle — Continued. 



135 



Date. 


a 
"El 


1 
3 


Date. 


i 


> 


Date. 


a 
"El 

CO 


3 


Date. 


3} 


J 


Sept. 14 


U 


12 


Sept. 15 


li 


14 


Sept. 15 


14 


13 


Sept. 15 


14 


10 




U 


12 




1* 


13 




1+ 


14 




14 


11 






13 




^ 


12 




1 


9 




u 


13 




2i 


19 




1 


9 




1 


11 




14 


9 




U 


12 




1 


10 




14 


12 




1 


11 




2 


11 




14 


12 




14 


13 




14 


13 




n 


9 




14 


14 




1 


10 














Sept. 15 


H 


13 




14 


14 




2 


16 


Total 


373i 


2, 928 




^ 


16 




1 


10 




14 


13 
















H 


16 




14 


15 




14 


14 


Average 


1.46 


11.39 




H 


14 




14 


12 




2 


16 










H 


15 




14 


13 




14 


11 










H 


12 




14 


14 




14 


13 









Sept. 8 


2 


16 


Sept. 9 


14 


11 


Sept. 9 


li 


9 


Sept. 10 


14 


14 




14 


12 




2 


12 




li 


9 




1 


8 




1 


15 




14 


12 




14 


11 




14 


15 




2 


11 




14 


13 




14 


13 




14 


11 




2 


14 




14 


15 




14 


13 




14 


13 




14 


12 




2 


12 




li 


13 




14 


10 




2 


16 




li 


13 




14 


14 




14 


12 




14 


12 




14 


14 




14 


12 




14 


14 




2 


13 




14 


13 




14 


14 




14 


12 




1 


10 




IS 


16 




14 


10 




14 


13 




1 


9 




li 


12 




14 


15 




14 


15 




14 


14 




2 


20 




14 


10 




1 


9 




1 


11 




1 


.13 




14 


12 




li 


12 




14 


15 




1 


12 




14 


10 




14 


13 




1 


9 




1 


16 




14 


8 




li 


a 




14 


16 




2 


19 




14 


12 




li 


10 




14 


12 




1 


13 




1 


11 




14 


12 




24 


10 




14 


13 




1 


11 




1 


7 




14 


11 




1 


14 




24 


9 




2 


10 




2 


15 




14 


16 




1 


10 




14 


13 




2 


16 




14 


14 




2 


14 




14 


7 




2 


20 




li 


9 




14 


11 




14 


8 




14 


14 




14 


12 




1 


8 




14 


9 




2 


13 




14 


10 




14 


11 




14 


11 




14 


12 




14 


10 


Sept. 10 


14 


13 




14 


10 




2 


15 




14 


7 




1 


8 




14 


13 




14 


16 




1 


7 




14 


10 




2 


16 




2 


13 




li 


9 




3 


11 




1 


8 




24 


12 




14 


10 




14 


9 




1 


8 




24 


15 




14 


12 




1 


8 




14 


11 




2 


16 




14 


10 




14 


16 




14 


16 


Sept. 9 


li 


13 




2 


10 




14 


12 




14 


10 




14 


11 




14 


10 




14 


12 




14 


11 




li 


14 




2i 


14 




14 


12 




14 


10 



13(3 



DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

Native cattle — Continued. 



Date. 


1 


t^ 

'^ 


Date. 


a 
Si 


12 


Date. 


a 
'a 

CO 


k 


Date. 


p 

c 


i 
> 


Sept. 10 


t* 


9 


Sept. 11 


1 


12 


Sept. 11 


li 


13 


Sept. 13 


li 


12 




H 


13 




1* 


13 




li 


13 




1 


11 




1 


8 




li 


15 




1 


10 




1 


12 




H 


14 




li 


13 




li 


12 




2 


14 




1 


8 




li 


14 




li 


13 




li 


10 




n 


12 




1* 


14 




li 


14 




li 


10 




H 


12 




li 


15 




li 


14 




1 


8 




H 


11 




u 


13 




li 


16 




li 


9 




H 


11 




1 


10 




li 


12 




1 


8 




H 


11 




H 


14 




li 


10 




li 


12 




u 


14 




li 


12 


Sept. 13 


1 


11 




1 


6 




2 


10 




li 


10 




li 


13 




1 


6 




H 


16 




li 


16 




2 


16 




li 


15 




H 


7 




1 


7 




1* 


12 




1 


8 




1 


10 




1 


6 




li 


14 




■ li 


10 




2 


16 




li 


15 




If 


12 




li 


9 




2 


10 




li 


16 




2 


15 


Sept. 14 


li 


9 




1 


11 




u 


14 




1 


16 




1 


6 




2 


16 




1* 


13 




li 


16 




1 


5 




^ 


16 




u 


14 




1 


12 




li 


8 




•A 


13 




li 


12 




li 


15 




li 


9 




1 


11 




1 


9 




1 


12 




1 


6 




1 


8 




li 


15 




1 


15 




li 


U 




H 


16 




1 


8 




1 


10 




li 


10 




o 


16 




H 


16 




1 


12 




li 


8 




2i 


16 




li 


16 




1 


10 




li 


9 




u 


16 




li 


14 




li 


12 




li 


10 




2 


14 




li 


10 




2 


15 




1 


4S 




H 


14 




u 


15 




14 


16 




1 


6 




H 


15 




li 


12 




2 


13 




li 


10 




1 


12 




li 


15 




li 


13 




2 


16 




1 


14 




li 


12 




1 


11 




2 


21 




1 


12 




li 


14 




li 


12 




li 


18 




U 


13 




1 


9 




1 


12 




li 


22 




1* 


14 




1 


11 




li 


12 




li 


10 


Sept. 11 


1 


9 




li 


12 




1 


12 




H 


9 




li 


11 




li 


14 




1 


12 




li 


9 




H 


12 




2 


16 




1 


12 




li 


8 




U 


13 




li 


14 




1 


10 




li 


9 




14 


12 




li 


13 




J 


12 




li 


10 




n 


15 




1 


10 




1 


10 




li 


9 




li 


16 




2 


11 




1 


12 




li 


10 




H 


12 




li 


13 




1 


9 




11 


17 




1 


13 




li 


14 




1 


12 




li 


16 




H 


12 




2 


16 




li 


12 




li 


12 




1* 


13 




li 


12 




If 


13 




li 


8 




U 


15 




li 


13 




1 


13 




li 


10 




li 


15 




li 


10 




li 


10 




li 


12 




H 


14 




li 


11 




li 


12 




li 


10 




1 


17 




li 


13 




li 


11 




li 


12 




H 


14 




li 


9 




li 


10 




1 


6 




U 


15 




li 


11 




1 


11 




1 


5 




1 


11 




li 


11 




2 


11 




li 


9 



THE SPLENIC! FEVER. 

JVative cattle — Continued. 



137 



Date. 




1 


Date. 




i 


Date. 


i 


£ 


Date. 


a 


£ 






> 




CO 


> 

3 




00 


3 




w 


'2 


Sept. 14 


n 


18 


Sept. 14 


li 


9 


Si-'pt. 15 


li 


14 


Sept. 15 


2 


13 




n 


18 




li 


8 




li 


14 




2i 


13 




H 


14 




li 


9 




li 


12 




1 


9 




H 


16 




li 


10 




1 


16 




H 


11 




n 


14 




li 


11 




li 


14 




2 


12 




H 


10 




li 


13 




li 


14 




1 


11 




n 


12 




li 


14 




2 


16 




1 


11 




u 


10 




li 


15 




li 


14 




li 


13 




u 


8 




li 


16 




li 


13 




li 


11 




H 


10 




If 


17 




■li 


14 




li 


12 




n 


10 


Sept. 15 


li 


14 




li 


12 




li 


12 




H 


10 




li 


12 




li 


10 




If 


13 




li 


10 




li 


12 




li 


10 




1 


11 




14 


15 




li 


12 




1 


10 




li 


11 




ii 


14 




li 


12 




1 


10 




1 


13 




1 


5 




•li 


11 




li 


11 




li 


12 




i 


4 




li 


14 




li 


13 




1 


10 




u 


13 




1 


12 




li 


13 




-li 


12 




If 


15 




1 


9 




2 


14 




1 


8 




n 


10 




li 


11 




1 


13 




1 


18 




u 


8 




li 


12 




li 


13 




1 


11 




li 


9 




li 


8 




li 


13 




1 


9 




li 


10 




li 


14 




li 


12 




1 


11 




li 


9 




If 


10 




li 


13 




1 


10 




u 


8 




1 


12 




1 


12 




li 


11 




u 


10 




2 


15 




li 


13 




li 


15 




2 


19 




1 


12 




li 


13 




li 


13 




1* 


17 




1 


12 




li 


12 




IJ 


14 




H 


18 




1 


12 




1 


10 




2 


15 




li 


11 




li 


12 




1 


11 




li 


15 




li 


12 




1 


12 




1 


10 




1 


11 




li 


14 




li 


12 




li 


10 




li 


12 




li 


6 




li 


11 




li 


11 




li 


16 




li 


9 




1 


12 




li 


. u 




2 


16 




li 


10 




1 


12 




1 


12 




li 


11 




li 


16 




1 


11 




li 


9 




2 


12 




li 


9 




1 


11 




li 


14 




li 


11 




li 


8 




li 


12 




2 


15 




2 


12 




li 


12 




1 


9 




li 


11 




2i 


13 




li 


10 




2 


11 




1 


12 




2 


12 




li 


9 




li 


13 




1 


12 




li 


14 




li 


8 




1 


12 




li 


15 




2 


12 




1 


5 




li 


10 




1 


11 




2i 


13 




1 


6 




li 


12 




li 


11 




li 


11 




li 


9 




1 


10 




li 


12 




2 


12 




li 


12 




li 


12 




Xi 


12 




2 


11 




li 


14 




1 


13 




2i 


13 




li 


12 




1 


5 




2 


15 




1 


11 




1 


10 




1 


6 




2 


12 




li 


10 




li 


12 




li 


12 




li 


13 




li 


12 




2 


10 




li 


20 




li 


12 




li 


11 




li 


11 




If 


21 




li 


13 




li 


10 




li 


11 




li 


10 




li 


14 




li 


11 




2 


10 



18 



138 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Native cattle — Continued. 



Sept. 15 . 



Sipt. 16 . 



14 


11 


2 


10 


U 


8 


1 


14 


u 


10 


n 


8 


2 


12 


H 


13 


1 


10 


H 


9 


2 


U 


2 


12 


H 


13 


14 


15 


2 


13 


U 


15 


2 


10 


2 


10 


2* 


12 


1 


10 


14 


12 


2 


10 


1 


12 


14 


11 


14 


14 


2 


16 


14 


17 


14 


16 


14 


15 


14 


15 


14 


17 


H 


17 


14 


12 


14 


13 


14 


13 


1 


14 


14 


14 


1 


13 


14 


14 


14 


13 


14 


14 


14 


14 


U 


15 


U 


15 


14 


17 


1 


14 


1 


14 


1 


13 


14 


13 


2 


15 


14 


12 


1 


13 


14 


15 



Sept. in 



Sei>t. IS 



Sept. 18 . 





1-2 




10 




9 




12 




10 




14 




15 




14 




15 




17 




16 




14 


u 


13 




12 




11 


14 


13 




15 




10 




11 


14 


13 


14 


12 




14 




14 


14 


13 




12 




13 




12 




13 




15 




17 


1* 


15 




14 




12 


14 


13 




14 




15 


14 


14 




15 


14 


14 


14 


15 




17 




16 


14 


14 


14 


13 




12 




11 


14 


13 


li 


14 




15 




10 


14 


11 


14 


13 




14 



Sept. 18 



THE SPLEXIC FEVER. 

Native cattle — Continued. 



139 



Date. 


a 


p 


Date. 


g 


i 


Date. 


§ 


i 


Date. 


g 


i 






> 
13 




i 


> 
3 




'k 


3 




^ 




Sept 18 


2 


17 


Sept. 18 aud 20 


14 


13. 


Sept. 18 and 20 


1 


14 


Sept. 24 


1 


13 




If 


15 




2 


10 




14 


IG 




14 


15 




li 


17 




2i 


12 




1 


12 




1 


16 




H 


14 




li 


9 




14 


10 




14 


15 




14 


13 




1 


11 




li 


11 




14 


15 




2 


17 




1 


8 




1 


13 




1 


14 




H 


14 




14 


11 




14 


8 




14 


12 




1 


15 




2 


12 




14 


10 




14 


14 




2 


13 




li 


11 




14 


12 




1 


15 




1* 


11 




2 


9 




li 


14 




14 


15 




H 


14 




li 


10 




14 


16 




li 


12 




14 


15 




14 


12 




li 


10 




14 


10 




1 


11 




li 


13 




14 


13 




1 


9 


Sept. 18 and 20. 


2 


13 




li 


12 




14 


12 




li 


8 




14 


15 




1 


11 




1 


13 




14 


12 




14 


9 




14 


10 




14 


15 




1 


14 




li 


8 




2 


9 




14 


14 




1 


16 




14 


8 




li 


12 




14 


10 




If 


14 




1 


9 




1 


14 




14 


12 




1 


9 




li 


10 




If 


11 




1 


8 




14 


10 




1 


9 




1 


10 




li 


12 




If 


12 




2 


13 




14 


8 




14 


10 




1 


10 




14 


12 




2 


9 




If 


12 


^ 


li 


12 




14 


14 




14 


10 




14 


12 




14 


10 




14 


13 




li 


13 




li 


10 




li 


13 




14 


12 . 




14, 


12 




li 


9 




If 


13 




1 


10 




li' 


10 




14 


13 


' 


1 


12 




14 


12 




li 


12 




14 


12 




14 


12 




14 


10 




2 


14 




li 


14 




14 


13 




If 


12 




14 


10 




14 


16 




1 


10 




14 


11 




If 


16 




If 


15 




li 


12 




2 


9 




li 


11 




14 


13 




If 


13 




H 


11 




14 


12 




1 


10 




If 


9 




2 


12 




1 


10 




14 


12 




14 


10 




14 


13 




14 


11 




14 


9 




1 


9 




1 


12 




1 


9 




If 


13 




11 


14 




It 


13 




2 


12 




1 


10 




li 


12 




14 


12 




14 


13 




li 


11 




14 


13 




2 


10 




1 


8 




1 


10 




14 


14 




If 


11 




14 


.10 




If 


8 




1 


14 




14 


13 




li 


12 




1 


9 




li 


10 




1 


12 




2 


14. 




14 


10 




14 


10 




li 


10 




14 


13 




If 


13 




li 


14 




1 


10 




14 


10 




li 


15 




If 


9 




If 


12 




14 


12 




14 


16 




1 


8 




2 


9 




li 


14 




9 


21 


If 


11 




14 


10 




14 


10 


Sept. 24 


14 


16 






12 




1 


12 




1 


11 




1 


15 




14 


13 




li 


13 




li 


.12 




14 


16 




14 


10 




14 


11 




2 


13 1 


14 


17 




li 


12 




If 


12 




14 


16 [! 


1 


16 




14 


14 




1 


10 




14 


15 




14 


15 




14 


10 



140 



DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 

Native cattle — Continue'l. 



Date. 


s 




Date. 


i 
1 


i 
> 

2 


Date. 


i 


2 


Date. 


1 


i 

3 


Sept. 24 


1 

li 

li 

li 

li 

1 

H 

H 


12 
11 
16 
10 
15 
10 
12 
14 
10 


Sept. 24 


H 
14 
li 
1 

1 

li 

1 
li 


15 
•15 
11 
14 
16. 
11 
15 
10 
12 


Sept. 24 


li 

u 

li 

1 
li 

2 
li 

1 
li 


14 
16 
15 
14 
15 
16 
14 
14 
15 


Sept. 24 

Total 

Average 


li 
1 

li 
li 

1 

1+ 
10 


12 
i:i 

14 
14 
15 
IC 
12 




l,46U12,402f 








1.441 12.231 



MALE AND FEMALE. 



Aiiguist 20 


1 


12 


August 20.... 


1 


9 


August 20 




9 


Sept. 2 ! 2 


20 




li 


14 




li 


12 




li 


11 


i ^* 


14 




2 


9i 




1 


14 






Si 


1 1 


13 




li 


13 




2 


15 






14 


1 li 


12 




1 


15 




2 


17 






12 




li 


14 




li 


16 




1 


14 




li 


14 




li 


13 




2 


9i 




1 


13 




li 


12 




1 


14 




2 


14 




li 


14 




li 


9 




2 


20 




2i 


13 




1 


15 




li 


12 




li 


14 




li 


12 




1 


16 






14 




2 


20 




1 


12 




li 


16 






12 




li 


14 




1 


13 




1 


14 




li 


9 




1 


13 




li 


13 




li 


15 






12 




li 


12 




1 


12 




1 


12 




li 


13 




li 


14 




li 


14 




1 


13 




2 


14 




li 


13 




2 


12 




1 


14i 




2 


16 




1 


13 




2 


13 




li 


9 




2 


18 




li 


14 




2 


15 




li 


12 






9i 




li 


12 




li 


18 




2 


14 






14 




1 


16 




li 


16 




2 


15 






15 




li 


13 






12 




li 


16 






12 




li 


14 






9i 




2 


17 






16 




1 


14 




li 


14 




li 


16 






12 




li 


14 






12 




li 


12 






15 




1 


13 




J 


8i 




1* 


10 






14 




li 


15 




li 


12 


• 


li 


12 






15 




li 


18 






12 




1 


16 






12 




li 


14 




li 


14 




2 


18 






9 




li 


1- 






15 




li 


16 






8 , 




li 


13 






16 




IJ 


12 






12 




li 


18 






12 




1 


12 






8i! 




li 


16 






9 




2 


10 






8 ' 


* 


li 


14 






10 




1 


12 






9 




li 


14 




li 


14 




li 


13 






9i 




2 


19 






1.5 




1 


14 






12 




li 


18 




li 


13 




1 


15 






12 




. 1 


13 






14 




li 


16 


i'n'i-'i 




16 




li 


14 




. 


12 




1 


12 






18 




li 


14 






13 




li 


14 




li 


14 




li 


14 



THE SPLEXIC FEVER. 

Native cattle — Continued. 

MALE AND FKMALE. 



141 



Sept. 2 . 



1* 


12 


li 


14 


H 


14 


2 


16 


1+ 


15 


li 


14 


1+ 


14 


IJ 


15 


li 


14 


1+ 


15 


1* 


13 


1* 


15 


li 


16 


1 


\n 


2 


iU 


U 


111 


li 


11 


li 


12 


H 


12 


li 


11 


li 


12 


li 


10 


H 


11 


2 


12 


2 


13 


2 


10 


li 


9 


li 


9i 


1 


9 


1 


91 


2 


12 


2 


10 


2 


11 


2i 


12 




9 


li 


12 




10 




13 


i 


9i 




11 




12 


li 


10 


u 


11 


2 


lOi 


2 


11 


2 


12 


1 


11 


1 


12 


li 


10 


1 


Hi 


li 


12 


U 


13 


1 


11 



Sept. 2 - 



Sept. 3 . 



li 


10 


1 


9i 


1 


9 


1 


8+ 


li 


9 


u 


8i 


1 


8 


1 


8i 


li 


9 


li 


8i 


li 


8 


J 


8 


n 


9i 


1 


10 


li 


10 


1 


11 


1 


11 


li 


11 


1 


10 


li 


12 


2 


9i 


2 


12 


li 


10 


1 


lOi 


li 


11 


2 


11 


2 


124 


2 


9 


2 


10 


li 


11 


li 


11 


li 


12 


li 


12 


2 


10 


4 


9 


2i 


13 


2i 


16 


2f 


10 


2 


10 


2 


11 


24- 


13 


2i 


15 


2i 


15 


2 


10 


li 


11 


li 


13 


2 


12 


2 


12 


2i 


13 


2i 


14 


3 


14 


3 


13 


24^ 


14 



Sept. 3 . 



Sept. 4 . 



Sept. 6. 



2i 


12 


If 


10 


li 


8 


li 


8 


li 


7 


1 


10 


li 


9 


li 


9 


U 


12 


2 


10 


2i 


9 


li 


9 


li 


lOi 


2 


11 


2 


12 


2i 


12 


U 


12 


11 


12 


1 


11 


2 


12 


2i 


10 


21 


9 


2 


8 


2 


10 


2i 


11 


li 


12 


2 


9 


2 


10 


2i 


9 


2 


10 


2 


11 


2 


12 


2 


11 


li 


14 


li 


12 


li 


14 


U 


14 


li 


12 


li 


10 


li 


14 


li 


14 


li 


16 


li 


14 


li 


14 


U 


12 


2 


14 


li 


13 


3 


18 


li 


14 


li 


12 


n 


14 


1 


10 


n 


14 



Sept. 6 . 



1 


15 


li 


18 


u 


16 


li 


15 


li 


14 


li 


17 


li 


14 


1+ 


15 


li 


14 


li 


15 


li 


18 


li 


17 


li 


17 


2 


Hi 


li 


lOf 


2 


13 


li 


14 


li 


10 


2i 


9i 


li 


10 


li 


Hi 


li 


Hi 


1 


i;ii 


2+ 


Hi 


2 


■ 13| 


li 


13 


1 


10 


li 


11 


2 


9 


2 


9i 


li 


Hi 


li 


11 


li 


13 


li 


9i 


2 


lOi 


2 


9i 


li 


13 


li 


13i 


li 


10 


1 


12i 


1 


9i 


li 


11 


li 


10 


If 


12i 


If 


Hi 


li 


11 


2 


15i 


li 


11 


2 


13 


U 


13 


If 


Hi 


li 


11 


2 


Hi 



U2 



IJKl'ART.MENT OF AGEICULTURE. 

Native cattle — Continued. 



MALE AND FEMALE. 



Date. 


1 

EC 


i 

>> 


Date. 




S 


Date. 


i 


i 

;3 


Date. 


1 

c 


i 


Sept. 6 


2 


12 


Sept. 7 


14 


11 


Sept. 7 


1 


12 


Sept. 10 


li 


14 




u 


94 




2 


. 13 




li 


16 




1 


114 




H 


4 




2i 


13 




li 


14 




14 


11 




li 


94 




2 


11 




14 


15 




li 


lOi 




1* 


9 




14 


12 




14 


18 




14 


9 




H 


94 




1 


11 




1 


13 




14 


14 




1 


9 




14 


12 




li 


14 




1 


10 




2 


10 


. 


1 


11 




14 


15 




14 


12 




u 


12 




14 


10 




14 


18 




1 


10 


Sept. 7 


1 


11 




1 


10 




li 


14 




2 


12 




li 


10 




1 


12 




li 


14 




24 


11 




1 


12 




14 


13 




14 


17 




2 


12 




1 


13 




1 


10 




14 


15 




14 


14 




H 


10 




14 


12 




li 


14 




1 


10 




1* 


104 




1 


94 




2 


18 




14 


15 




li 


114 




li 


12 




14 


17 




If 


15 




2 


8 




14 


13 




li 


15 




1 


11 




2i 


84 




14 


11 




li 


17 




2 


9 




1* 


124 




2 


10 




1 


16 




14 


13 




1* 


12 




14 


11 




li 


14 




U 


114 




li 


10 




2* 


12 




U 


18 




If 


12 




li 


9 




14 


15 




li 


15 




14 


15 




1* 


114 




3 


13 




f 


14 




14 


15 




1* 


11 




2 


10 




li 


lOf 




li 


14i 




li 


114 




3 


15 


Sept. 9 


1 


11 1 


1 


12 




li 


12 




14 


13 




2 


12 




1 


10 




1 


12 




24 


14 




14 


13 




14 


94 




H 


114 




14 


16 




14 


15 




14 


13 




li 


11 




14 


13 




1 


144 




li 


13 




14 


12 




2 


10 




2 


124 




1 


13 




1* 


13 




24 


10 




1 


13 




1 


9 




li 


10 




2f 


11 




14 


94 




2 


94 




2 


11 




24 


12 




li 


15 




14 


liH 




2 


10 




14 


11 




14 


11 




14 


11 




H 


12 




2 


13 




li 


13 




li 


12 




H 


10 




2 


15 




14 


14 




li 


13 




1 


11 




3 


10 




li 


lOf 




14 


94 




li 


12 




14 


10 




1} 


15 




1 


15 




H 


114 




If 


13 




14 


12 




1 


8 




1 


12 




14 


16 




14 


15 




14 


13 




14 


13 




14 


13 




2 


144 




14 


12 




li 


94 




14 


12 




2 


15 




If 


12 




U 


12 




14 


13 




li 


m 




2 


15 




li 


lOi 




2 


10 




1 


12 1 


2 


16i 




2 


94 




2 


11 




14 


13 




li 


114 




14 


lOi 




2 


13 




1 


15i 




14 


12 




14 


11 




3 


15 




14 


10 




1 


14 




1 


12 




24 


8 




li 


12 




14 


13 




14 


10 




1 


16 




li 


114 




2 


124 




1 


94 




li 


15 




H 


144 




1 


12 




14 


10 




2 


20 




li 


16 j 


1 


13 




1 


124 




14 


18 


.S'pt. 1(1 


li 


12 ' 


14 


14 




U 


13 




li 


14 




n 


13 




2 


10 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 

Native cattle — Continued. 

>IALE AXI) FEMALE. 



143 



Sept. 10 . 



Sept. 11. 



2 


15 


U 


10 


li 


14 


1+ 


13 


n 


lOi 


If 


11 


li 


12 


2 


13 


2* 


13i 


li 


15 


li 


9 


2 


84 


IJ- 


11 


n 


12 


H 


13 


li 


11 


2 


14 


u 


15 


u 


14 


li 


lOi 


2 


15 


H 


13 


H 


114 


If 


13 


14 


12 


li 


13 


1 


10 


H 


13 


i 


8 


1 


14 


1 


9 


li 


13 


14 


12 


1 


13 


2 


9 


1 


11 


14- 


13 


1 


14 


1 


14 


1* 


15 


H 


10 


2 


16 


1 


14 


1 


15 


1* 


13 


li 


16 


1 


9 


i 


10 


li 


13 


li 


14 


1 


12 


1 


14 


1 


15 



Sept. 11 , 



Sept. 14 





14 


13 




li 


16 




1 


9 




4 


10 




li 


13 




2 


94 




2 


12 




2 


11 




14 


13 




li 


14 




n 


15 




14 


13 




14 


14 




1 


15 




14 


11 




. li 


10 




1 


164 




2 


12 




1 


13 




1 


14 




14 


12 




li 


14 




14 


114 




2 


13 




li 


14 




14 


15 




14 


12 




2 


10 




1 


11 




14 


12 




14 


13 




1 


11 




14 


11 




If 


12 




14 


12 




li 


11 




14 


11 




If 


13 




1 


84- 




1 


13 




2 


14 




1 


12 




1 


14 




1 


164 




2 


12 




1 


16 




14 


13 




li 


14 




1 


12 




1 


12 




14 


14 




1 


15 




li 


16 



Sept. 14 



2 


19 


1 


12 


1 


13 


1 


15 


14 


10 


li 


94 


14 


14 


2 


16 


2 


15 


24 


15 


14 


12 


14 


14 


14 


94 


u 


9 


2 


16 


1 


12 


14 


13 


2 


14 


24 


13 


2 


14 


14 


15 


li 


15 


li 


14 


li 


12 


1 


10 


li 


14 


1 


12 


1 


13 


14 


94 


1} 


104 


2 


12 


24 


13 


2 


12 


14 


15 


14 


16 




17 




14 




9 


li 


14 




16 



Sept. 14 



1 


12 


14 


15 


14 


12 


1 


14 


2 


94 


2 


14 


24 


15 


1 


12 


14 


13 


2 


15 


24 


16 


1 


94 


li 


94 


li 


9 


14 


12 


14 


15 


li 


16 


2 


15 


1 


14 


14 


15 


1 


16 


li 


14 


2 


94 


2 


10 


14 


15 


2 


13 


24 


14 


14 


16 


1 


14 


14 


13 


2 


14 


2 


14 


1 


12 


14 


13 


2 


14 


li 


15 


li 


16 


14 


12 


li 


14 


14 


12 


14 


14 


li 


10 


1 


15 


14 


16 


1 


14 


14 


13 


li 


14 


2 


12 


2i 


13 


2i 


16 


14 


10 


14 


11 



144 



DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTCTRE. 

Native cattle — Continued. 



MALE AXl) IIC.MAI.IC. 



Date. 


IS 

a 

i 


> 


Date. 


1 


i 

3 


Date. 


a 
1 


i 


Date. 


c 


> 

3 


Si-i)t. 14 


u 


10 


Sept. 14 


i 


8 


Sept. 15 


2 


12 


Sept. 15 


f 


84 




2 


12 




1 


12 




1 


14 




2 


14 




2 


14 




14 


14 




1 


15 




14 


16 




H 


15 




1 


15 




2 


10 




1 


13 




1 


12 




3 


9 




2 


114 




14 


12 




2 


10 




3 


94 ' 


14 


14 




1 


10 




1 


14 




4 


10 


14 


15 




1 


94 




li 


12 




3 


11 


1 


13 


2 


11 




If 


10 




34 


10 


1 


15 


i 24 


V> 




1 


9 




1 


12 


14 


16 


1 


14 




4 


8 




14 


14 


2 


12 




14 


12 




f 


8 




2 


10 




1 


11 




1 


11 




1 


12 




24 


14 




1 


94 




14 


14 




H 


15 




14 


15 




1 


14 




1 


12 




2 


94 




14 


14 




1 


13 




2 


11 




1 


14 




1 


14 




14 


14 




14 


9 




1* 


15 




14 


15 




14 


16 




4 


8 




1 


12 




14 


13 


* 


9 




4 


8 




li 


114 




1 


94 i; 


3 


10 




2 


9 




f 


8 




2 


12 




1 


14 




24 


12 




1 


11 




14 


14 




1 


12 




1 


114 




H 


10 




li 


15 




14 


14 




14 


9 




H 


14 




1 


16 


1 


17 




2 


94 




2 


9 




i 


84 




1 


11 




14 


15 




2i 


94 




1 


12 




14 


10 


Sept. 16 


1 


8 




1 


11 




1 


14 




14 


9 




1 


7 




li 


12 




1 


12 




2 


11 




14 


8 




H 


14 




1 


14 




14 


9 




14 


84 




14 


15 




2 


12 


24 


13 




■ 4 


8 




'J 


94 




14 


14 


1 


12 




1 


94 




2 


16 




14 


94 , 


1 


9 




1 


7 




14 


12 




1 


12 ,| 


24 


13 




14 


74 




14 


15 




14 


12 


2 


14 




1 


14 




14 


14 




2 


94 




1 


15 




14 


15 




14 


144 




1 


114 




1 


12 




14 


144 




14 


114 




2 


12 




14 


10 




14 


11 




2 


10 




2 


14 




1 


114 




14 


^4 




14 


94 




1 


14 




1 


14 




14 


<) 




1 


12 




14 


14 




1 


17 




14 


11 




1 


14 




1 


15 




IS 


16 




1 


13 




14 


15 




14 


13 




i 


84 




14 


16 




14 


16 




2 


14 




i 


12 




2 


14 




1 


12 




1 


14 




J 


10 




1 


11 




14 


16 




1 


15 




li 


14 




2 


11 




14 


12 




2 


13 




14 


14 




14 


11 




1 


11 




2 


14 




1 


15 




1 


13 




14 


9 


Sept. 15 


1 


14 




2 


14 




2 


12 




14 


10 




14 


15 




1 


11 




1 


13 




14 


9 




14 


16 




1 


12 




1 


17 




2 


12 




1 


17 




1 


13 




14 


16 




14 


14 




1 


94 




14 


14 




2 


14 




1 


13 




14 


14 




1 


11 




14 


17 




1 


12 




2 


94 




1 


8 




1 


94 



Sept. 16 



gept. 17 



TlIE SPLENIC FEVER. 

li'aiive cattle — Continued. 

MALE AXn rE>rALE. 



145 



n 


9 


u 


16 




16+ 




18 


If 


14 


n 


13 


n 


16 




13 




16 




14 


u 


15 




m 


H 


15 




10 




12 




13 




14 




9 


n 


8 




74 




15 


n 


13 


14 


11 




12 




13 


1* 


11- 




13 




14 


H 


9 




15 


2f 


14 




14 


2 


14 


2 


16 


2 


15 


2 


14 


14 


12 


2 


15 


2 


16 


H 


14 


I 


15 


2 


13 


2 


14+ 


2 


15 


1* 


14 




8i 




n 


n 


9 


H 


10 




8 


i 


9* 


1 


7 



Sept. 17 



1 


8 


H 


9 


14 


10 


1 


7 


14 


84 


1 


s 


14 


9 


14 


8 


U 


12 


14 


12 


2 


14 


U 


13 


1 


9 


1 


12 


1 


15 


14 


14 


2 


13 


14 


13i 


1 


12 


14 


13 


14 


15 


1 


16 


14 


12 


2 


14 


14 


16 


1 


12 


2 


12 


1 


84 


14 


13 


14 


14 


2 


12 


14 


114 


1 


12 


2 


13i 


14 


13 


14 


11 


1 


84 


2 


12 


14 


13 


14 


14 


2 


12 


14 


11 


1 


12 


2 


15 


2 


13 


1 


9 


14 


12 


1 


14 


u 


13 


2 


14 


24 


. 15 



Sept. 17 



Sept. 18 . 



1 


10 


2 


12 


14 


14 


1 


12 


1 


14 


14 


15 


1 


84 


14 


13 


14 


114 


2 


9 


1 


12 


2 


13 


2 


15 


1 


12 


1 


9 


14 


14 


14 


12 


14 


12 


14 


14 


2 


13 


14 


134 


1 


9 


1 


11 


2 


14 


14 


15 


If 


16 


1 


13 


■2 


11 


14 


11 


1 


13 


1 


15 


1* 


134 


14 


16 


1 


94 


1* 


■ 9 


2 


12 


2 


12 


2 


15 


24 


14 


If 


14 


2 


144 


2 


16 


If 


15 


14 


13 


1 


12 


1 


10 


n 


14 


2 


13 


2 


15 


If 


14 


14 


16 


1 


12 


If 


13 



Sept. 18 . 



Sept. 23 , 



Sept. 24 



19 



2 


14 


24 


16 


If 


vq 


2 


14 




14 


14 


10 




15 


14 


16 




13 


If 


12 




16 


14 


14 


lA 


74 




14 


14 


15 




12 




16 


14 


15 




12 


14 


15 




13 


If 


15 




14 


14 


16 




10 


14 


9 




13 


14 


12 


14 


14 




13 


14 


15 




12 




94 


If 


15 




14 


14 


13 




15 


14 


14 




13 




15 


14 


16 




13 




14 




12 




16 




15 




94 




8 




12 




14 




16 




12 


14 


13 



14G 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTCTRE. 

Native cattle — Continued. 



MALE AND FF.MAI.K. 



i<<'llt. 24. 



a 

i 




li 


ir. 

14 




12 


H 


15 




12 




13 


li 


15 




10 




n 




n 




8i 


H 


14 


IJ 


15 




n 




12 


If 


14 


li 


15 




n 


* 


14 


H 


9* 


U 


15 


H 


13 




14 


2 


12 


2 


15 


2 


10 


^ 


15 


li 


15 


li 


16 


li 


14 


2 


16 


H 


15 



Date. 


i 


3 


St'iit. 24 


1 


16 




H 


15 




1 


10 




li 


15 




1 


14 




1 


15 




1* 


10 




li 

1 


14 
13 




U 


12 




li 


15 




1 


16 




1 


12 




^ 


9i ! 




H 


12 




1 


14 




1 


15 




li 


12 




1 


01 




f 


11 


Sopt. 25 


3i 


13i 




1+ 


12 




li 


12 




li 


10 




1 


12 




H 


12 




1 


13 [ 




14 


12 1 




2 


13 




2 


11 




2| 


13 




1 


10 



Sept. 25 



a 
g 


> 

2 


1 


12 


2 


15 


li 


14 


1 


12 


1 


11 


H 


10 


1 


9 


H 


12 


1 


8 


14 


8 


u 


9 


u 


11 


1 


13 


1 


9i 


14 


11 ; 


1 


11 i 


•14 


12 


14 


.10 


li 


8 


14 


12 


14 


9 


1 


10 


14 


11 


1 


12 


2 


11 


li 


14 


1 


15 j 


1 


10 


U 


12 ! 


14 


13 


14 


14 


1 


14 



Sept. 25 



Total.... 
Average . 



11 

12i 

11 

114 

10 

13 

12 

11 

8 

8 

104 
11 

9 
11 
11 
12 

9 
12 
13 
12 
14 
12 
13 
14 
12 
14 
15 
38 



1, 980i 16785i 



1.459 12.362 



Cherokee cattle. 



Sept. 8 . 



Sept. 9 



Sept. Ill 



2 


10 1 


1 


10 1 


2 


10 ' 


14 


12 


2 


9 


1 


7 


2 


10 


14 


8 


2 


10 


14 


9 


2 


10 


2 


13 


1 


8 


lA 


« 


14 


7 1 



Sept. 10. 



1+ 


1 
9 1 


2 


12 ! 




13 




7 




9 




13 




8 




8 




10 




11 




10 




11 




10 




10 




10 



Sept. 10. 
Sept. 13 . 



24 


14 


14 


14 


14 


10 


14 


12 


H 


13 


14 


14 


2 


13 


24 


10 


2 


12 


2 


12 


2 


13 


14 


12 


14 


8 


14 


10 


14 


10 ; 



Sept. 13. 



14 


8 


14 


12 


14 


10 


24 


12 


£ 


12 


2i 


10 


2i 


14 


14 


11 


14 


9 


14 


12 


2 


15 


14 


10 


2 


14 


li 


12 


u 


10 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 

Cherokee cattle — Coutinued. 



147 



Date. 


a 


i 


Date. 


a 


i 


Date. 


s 


e 


Date. 


a 


u 




'3, 


> 

3 




in 


> 

3 




rJu 


3 




m 


> 

3 


Sei)t. 13 


u 


10 


Sept 15. 


2i 


12 


Sept. 15 


2 


13 


Sept. 18 


2 


12 




2 


12 




2 


13 




14 


13 






7 




2} 


15 




2 


12 




14 


11 






9 




a 


10 




4 


11 




14 


9 




14 


11 




H 


12 




2 


12 




14 


11 






12 




li 


13 




2 


12 




14 


10 






12 




2 


13 




n 


11 




14 


11 




14 


12 




H 


12 


\ H 


10 




2 


13 






12 




2i 


16 


i H 


11 




2 


12 






7 




2 


12 




li 


10 




14 


11 






9 




li 


9 




H 


11 




14 


9 




14 


13 




2 


12 




2 


■ 12 




14 


9 






14 




li 


14 




2 


12 




14 


11 






11 


Sept. 14 


2i 


14 




2 


12 




2 


13 






r 




2 


12 




H 


11 




14 


11 




14 


8 




n 


9 




14 


9 




2 


13 




14 


8 




li 


13 




li 


8 




2 


12 






9 




li 


10 




2 


11 




2 


13 




14 


9 




H 


13 




14 


11 




14 


11 






8 




u 


12 




14 


12 




24 


14 






9 




H 


10 




2 


12 




2 


13 




14 


11 




H 


10 




14 


11 




li 


14 






8 




li 


10 




24 


13 




2 


13 






7 




2 


14 




2 


12 




2 


13 






9 




li 


10 




14 


11 




2 


12 




14 


10 




li 


12 




14 


11 




14 


10 






10 




24 


15 




2 


13 




14 


11 




14 


13 




li 


11 




14 


9 




14 


12 






11 




2i 


10 




14 


9 




14 


9 






11 




2 


11 




14 


8 




14 


10 






11 




2i 


12 




14 


11 




2 


11 




14 


1« 




3i 


11 




14 


12 


Sept. 18 


14 


7 






11 




3 


14 




2 


12 




1 


7 






13 




1* 


10 




14 


11 




14 


8 






12 




2 


9 




14 


12 




1 


7 






11 




3 


10 




2 


13 




1 


5 






12 




2i 


9 




14 


9 




1 


7 




14 


1.1 




3 


12 




14 


10 




1 


8 






9 




2 


11 




2 


11 




14 


8 






7 




2 


10 




14 


12 




1 


11 




14 


8 




2 


10 




14 


10 




14 


7 






9 




3 


10 




24 


14 




2 


9 




14 


9 


Sept. 15 


H 


8 




14 


10 




14 


8 




14 


9 




li 


7 




14 


11 




1 


7 






8 




H 


8 




14 


11 




1 


6 






7 




2 


12 




14 


11 




14 


9 






8 




14 


-13 




14 


10 




2 


10 






8 




H 


9 




14 


11 




14 


9 




14 


9 




2 


13 




14 


12 




1 


7 






10 




u 


9 




14 


10 




li 


10 




14 


11 




2 


10 




14 


9 




1 


8 




2 


13 




2 


10 




14 


13 




14 


7 






7 




2 


10 




14 


12 




2 


10 




14 


8 



148 



DEPAKTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE, 



Cherokee cattle — Coufinued. 



Date. 


i 

CO 


> 
2 


Date. 


§ 

i 


i* 
> 
3 


Date. 


i 


> 


Date. 


tc 


> 

3 


Sn't. 18 


H 


11 


Sojit. 18 


2 


12 


S<-pt. 18 




8 


Sept. 18 


14 


7 




1 


13 




2 


12 






9 




14 


9 




2 


12 




2 


13 




14 


7 


1 


1 


8 




2i 


13 




2 


13 




14 


5 




14 


7 




2 


13 




14 


11 




14 


7 




14 


7 




2i 


11 






11 






6 




1 


8 




2 


12 




14 


13 






5 




14 


9 




H 


10 




14 


10 






7 




n 


8 




H 


10 






9 




u 


8 




14 


7 




14 


10 






8 






9 




li 


y 




H 


11 






11 






7 




1 


8 




2 


11 




li 


13 




14 


8 


Sept. 25 


14 


9 




2JS 


12 






9 




u 


9 




14 


11 




24 


14 






10 






9 




2 


12 




24 


14 




14 


10 




1+ 


10 




1* 


9 




14 


10 




H 


11 




14 


10 




1 


8 




2 


12 




U 


11 






8 




14 


9 




2 


12 




u 


8 






7 




2 


11 




14 


11 






7 






6 




14 


10 




14 


10 




14 


8 






5 




2 


12 




14 
2 
24 


13 
11 
13 




14 


9 

8 
9 




14 


7 
8 
6 


Total 

Average-.... 


577i 


3,756 




1.60 


10. 404 



Sept. 8 



S.'pt. 9 



Sfpt. 1(1 



14 


11 


14 


10 


2 


10 


2 


9 


1 


7 


1 


10 


2 


10 


2 


9 


2 


8 


1 


5 


14 


9 


1 


6 


14 


12 


H 


12 


2 


10 


2 


12 


14 


9 


14 


9 


U 


12 


1 


8 


1 


5 


2 


10 


14 


10 


14 


8 


14 


14 


1 


10 



Sept. 10. 



Sept. 13 . 



14 


12 


1 


C 


14 


8 


14 


9 


1 


7 


14 


13 


H 


10 


14 


12 


14 


10 


14 


11 


1 


7 


14 


9 


14 


9 


14 


10 


2 


15 


24 


12 


14 


8 


2 


12 


24 


14 


2 


10 


li 


12 


14 


13 


2 


14 


24 


18 


2 


15 


14 


10 



8i-pt. 13. 
Sept. 14 . 



14 


8 


2 


11 


2 


12 


24 


13 




13 




15 




14 




12 




13 




10 




10 




11 




16 




14 




10 




10 




10 




13 




12 




12 




10 




12 




13 




9 




8 




10 



Sept. 14. 



Sept. 15 . 



2 


12 


2i 


11 


2 


11 


24 


9 


14 


8 


2 


10 


2 


10 


14 


10 


24 


9 


14 


8 


24 


9 


14 


8 


2J 


14 


14 


9 


If 


11 


n 


8 


2i 


9 


2 


10 


14 


11 


U 


11 


14 


10 


1 


9 


1 


9 


14 


11 


U 


11 


14 


12 



THE Sl'LEXIC FEVER 



149 



Cherokee cattle — Continued. 



Date. 


an 


i 
2 


Date. 


a 

J - 
"El 

CO 


t 
> 

■(5 


Date. 


a 

02 


> 

3 


Date. 




i 
> 


Sept. 15 


2 
2 
2 

2* 
H 

U 
1* 

u 

li 

li 

1 

w 


12 
13 
12 
14 
11 
11 
11 
12 
12 
12 
13 
9 
10 


Seiit. 15 


l| 

1 

H 

n 

H 
H 
H 
H 
u 

li 
14 


10 

11 

9 
11 
12 
12 
11 
11 
10 
11 
11 
11 
12 


Sept. 15 

Sept. 18...:.. 


li 

H 

14 

14 

14 

14 

1 

14 

14 

14 

14 

14 

1 


11 

10 
10 

11 

12 

11 
9 
13 
13 
11 
12 
13 
12 


Sept. 18 

Total 

Average 


14 

14 

1 

14 

14 

14 

1 

1 

14 


11 

9 
7 
8 
9 

9 
8 
9 




244i 


1,611 




1.606 


10.6 



MALE AND FEMALE. 



Aug. 20 


3 


9 


Sept. 3 


24 


14 


Sept. 3 


24 


13 


Sept. 3 


2* 


10 




34 


8 




24 


13 




2 


10 




24 


9 




3 


12 




24 


12 




24 


12 




24 


10 




24 


10 




24 


14 




24 


13 




24 


9 




2 


11 




24 


13 




2 


10 




24 


8 




2i 


9 




2 


13 




14 


9 




24 


8 




2f 


12 




24 


14 




14 


10 




24 


9 




3 


84 




24 


13 




2 


11 




24 


9 




3 


11 




24 


13 




1$ 


11 




24 


10 




3 


94 




24 


14 




24 


12 




24 


9 


Sept.2 


3 


94 




24 


13 




34 


11 




24 


9 




3 


n 




24 


13 




24 


10 




24 


9 




3 


11 




24 


13 




24 


12 




2 


8 




24 


10 




2 


10 




2 


11 




24 


9 




3 


94 




24 


11 




14 


10 




3 


10 




24 


9 




2 


11 




14 


12 




24 


10 




3 


9 




24 


12 




24 


12 




2 


9 




3 


10 




24 


11 




14 


10 




24 


9 




3 


lOi 




2 


10 




24 


11 




24 


16 




3 


9 




24 


13 




24 


12 




24 


12 




3i 


9 




24 


11 




24 


10 




2| 


15 


Sept. 3 


2i 


10 




24 


12 




24 


8 




4 


13 




24 


13 




14 


9 




24 


8 




2 


10 




24 


10 




2 


10 




24 


9 




2 


11 




2 


11 




24 


11 




24 


10 




2 


10 




24 


14 




24 


10 




24 


9 




3 


11 




14 


10 




2 


11 




2i 


10 




3 


12 




li 


11 




24 


10 




24 


8 




2 


9 




24 


12 




24 


13 




24 


10 




2 


15 




2i 


11 




24 


10 




24 


10 




24 


12 




2i 


13 




24 


12 




24 


9 




2 


13 




24 


14 




2 


10 




24 


8 




2| 


12 




24 


12 




14 


8 




24 


10 




24 


12 




2 


13 




24 


12 




24 


8 




2 


11 




24 


13 




24 


13 




2 


8 




3 


11 




24 


14 




24 


10 




24 


8 




14 


12 



150 



DEPARTMENT OF ACllUCULTUKE. 

Cherolcee cattle — Continued. 



MALE AXD KEJIALE. 



Date. 


c 

1* 


i 
13 


Date. 


s 

J 

p. 

03 


i 

;3 


Date. 


1 
p. 
to 


3 


Date. 


CO 


> 


Sept. 4 


2i 


12 


.Sept. 4 


2 


9 


Sept. 6 


2i 


10 


Sept. 10 


3 


11 




2 


10 




2 


10 




2i 


11 




3i 


9 




2i 


11 


li 


9 




2 


9 




3 


9i 




2i 


13 




2i 


11 




2 


8 




4 


9i 




2 


9 




2i 


10 




li 


13 




3 


lOJ 




IJ 


8 




2i 


10 




li 


8 




n 


9 




li 


9 




2i 


12 


1 


2i 


11 




2f 


10 




H 


8 




2i 


11 




2i 


13 




2i 


9 




u 


10 




2i 


13 




li 


8 




2f 


14 




2 


11 




2i 


11 




2i 


12 




3 


11 




2i 


12 




2 


10 




2i 


13 




3i 


9i 




2i 


12 




2 


12 




li 


8 




4 


9 




2i 


11 




H 


9 




li 


9 




4i 


9i 




2 


9 




li 


U 




li 


11 




3 


10 




2i 


12 




U 


10 




2i 


12 




3i 


9 




2i 


10 




2i 


13 




2 


10 




^'i 


8i 




2 


9 


Sept .6 


2 


13 


Sept.7 


li 


10 




2J 


9i 




li 


8 




2i 


13 




li 


12 




2i 


11 




2* 


12 




2 


12 




li 


12 




3 


9i 




IJ 


9 




2i 


13 




2i 


14 




3f 


9 




2 


12 




2 


11 




2i 


12 




3i 


9i 




H 


10 




2 


10 




2i 


13 




2i 


8i 




2* 


12 




li 


10 




2 


12 




3 


9i 




2i 


11 




If 


8 




2i 


14 




4 


9i 




2i 


11 




li 


9 




2i 


14 


Sept. 11 2i 


8 




2i 


12 




li 


11 




2 


10 


3 


9i 




2* 


12 




2i 


13 




li 


9 


3 


10 




2 


9 




2i 


13 




U 


10 


3i 


9i 




li 


9 




2i 


12 




2i 


12 


Sept. 14 1 2 


15 




2 


8 




2 


10 




2i 


13 




li 


10 




1* 


9 




2 


9 




2i 


13 




li 


10 




H 


11 




2i 


12 




2i 


13 






12 




2i 


12 




2i 


11 




2i 


14 






13 




24 


12 




2i 


13 




2i 


13 






14 




2i 


11 




li 


9 




2i 


14 






10 




2i 


12 




2 


10 




2i 


15 






16 




li 


9 




li 


12 




2i 


14 






13 




li 


9 




2 


11 




2 


10 






10 




2 


10 




2i 


12 




2 


11 






12 




2i 


12 




2i 


11 




2i 


13 






12 




li 


11 




2i 


10 




2i 


14 


1* 


10 




li 


11 




2i 


9 




2i 


13 






9 




2i 


12 




2 


10 




2i 


14 






14 




2i 


12 




2 


9 




2 


10 






12 




2i 


12 




2i 


13 




2i 


14 






18 




2i 


11 




2i 


12 




2i 


13 






10 




H 


9 




2i 


12 




2i 


12 






12 




li 


9 




2i 


12 




2i 


13 




10 




2 


11 




2i 


13 


Sept. 10 


2i 


9i 




9 




2i 


10 




2 


10 




2i 


10 


li 


12 




2i 


11 




2 


9 




31 


10 


li 


12 




2i 


11 




2i 


13 




2i 


11 




12 




2i 


12 




2i 


14 




2i 


9i 




2 


13 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 



151 



Cherokee cattle — Continued. 



MALE AND FEMALE. 



Date. 


1 




Date. 


a 


ZJ 


Date. 


m 

a 


S 


Date. 


i 


t 




cc* 


3 






3 




1* 


■>3 




M 


> 

3 


Sept. 14 


H 


10 , 


Sept. 14 


3 


n 


Sept. 17 


24 


10 


Sept. 2:5 


34 


12 




H 


10 




4 


8 




24 


10 




2 


9 




li 


10 


Sept. 16 


2* 


8 


Sept. 18 


2 


94 




n 


84 




H 


8 




2i 


9 




3 


84 


Sept. 24 


3 


10 




H 


14 




3 


11 




3 


9 




3 


94 




If 


16 




3i 


10 




24 


11 




3 


9 




H 


14 




3 


94 




2f 


10 




n 


10 




li 


13 




24 


84 




3 


9 




34 


10 




H 


12 




3 


94 




34 


84 




3i 


94 




li 


14 




34 


8 




2 


12 




3 


10 




li 


13 


Sept. 17 


24 


9 




24 


11 




34 


11 




H 


15 




24 


84 




2* 


12 




3f 


114 




3 


9 




3 


9 




3 


9 




4 


10 




3 


8 




3 


94 




34 


94 




4 


10 




4 


10 




2i 


11 


Sept. 23 


3 


10 




34 


12 




4i 


12 




3 


12 




34 


9 


! 


3 


94 




3 


9 




24 


114 




24 


94 




2* 


9 




3 


11 




3 


94 




3 


12 




24 


9 




3i 


12 




3 


10 




3 


11 




24 


10 




3* 

3 

3i 


9 
10 

8* 




34 
2 
24 


11 
11 
14 




24 
2f 
3 


10 
14 

10 


Total 

Average 


1,03444,7674 




2.'345 


10.81 



Texan cattle. 



Sept. 8 


34 


12 


Sept. 10 


24 


13 


Sept. 11 


3 


13 


Sept. 11 


24 


12 




34 


10 




24 


12 




3 


14 




24 


10 




34 


10 




3 


12 




24 


14 




24 


11 




3 


9 




3 


14 




24 


13 




24 


10 




34 


12 




24 


13 




34 


10 




3 


13 




3 


10 




3 


17 




3 


10 




3 


14 




34 


12 




3 


14 




3 


12 




3 


12 




3 


11 




2 


13 




24 


13 




34 


13 




34 


12 




24 


11 




3 


14 




24 


14 




3^ 


14 




24 


14 




3 


14 




2 


13 




3 


10 




2 


13 




3 


14 




24 


14 


Sept. 9 


14 


13 




24 


14 




3 


12 




2 


13 




24 


11 




24 


12 




3 


12 




24 


13 




2 


13 




24 


13 




3 


12 




24 


12 




2 


14 




2 


12 




3 


12 




2 


9 




2+ 


14 




14 


10 




3 


14 


Sept. 13 


3 


14 




24 


16 




2 


10 




24 


13 




24 


13 




2 


12 




24 


12 




24 


12 




2 


13 




2 


11 




2 


10 




3 


14 




3 


14 




24 


11 




2 


9 




34 


13 




24 


11 




24 


11 




24 


12 




24 


12 




34 


16 




3 


11 




24 


14 




24 


11 




3 


21 




24 


12 




1* 


8 




34 


14 




2 


10 


Sept. 10 


3 


16 




1 


9 




24 


10 1 




3 


12 




24 


14 




2 


11 




24 


14 




3 


13 



152 



DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

Texan cattle — Continued. 



Pat(\ 


§ 

i 


> 

13 


Date. 


□ 

i 


i 

;3 


Date. 


1 
OB 


i 


Date. 


1 
Si 


i 
> 

3 


Sipt. i:! 


2i 


12 


Sept. 15 


24 


13 


Sept. 16 


24 


13 


Sept. 16 


14 


12 




34 


13 




2 


1-2 




2 


12 




1 


11 




3 


13 




34 


10 




2 


12 




1 


12 




2i 


16 




2 


11 




2 


13 




2 


13 




2 


12 




3 


13 




2 


13 




3 


14 




2J 


14 




24 


12 




24 


13 




24 


13 




3 


13 




2 


12 




2 


13 




24 


13 




24 


12 




3 


13 




2 


12 




2 


13 




3 


13 




2 


15 




2 


13 




2 


13 




24 


10 




14 


12 




2 


13 




2 


13 




2 


12 




2 


11 




2 


14 




2 


13 




3 


14 




3i 


10 




14 


11 




14 


12 




3 


14 




3 


12 




14 


12 




2 


13 




3 


13 




24 


13 




2 


12 




2 


13 




34 


l.-i 




3 


10 




2 


13 




2 


13 


Sept. 14 


24 


10 




24 


9 




24 


15 




14 


11 




3 


12 




24 


12 




24 


15 




14 


11 




3 


14 




3 


13 




24 


13 




14 


11 




34 


13 




24 


15 




3 


14 




14 


12 




24 


10 




2 


10 




2 


15 




2 


11 




24 


11 




3 


12 




24 


13 




14 


13 




3 


12 




24 


15 




24 


13 




2 


11 




2i 


10 




3 


10 




24 


12 




14 


13 


Sept. 15 


24 


24 




2i 


13 




2 


12 




2 


13 




24 
24 


12 
10 


Sept. 16 2i 

2 


14 
15 




24 
2 


12 
11 


Sept. 18 


14 
3 


13 
10 




24 


11 




3 


15 




2 


12 




34 


13 




2 


13 




24 


12 




24 


13 




2i 


15 




3 


13 




2 


13 




24 


12 




24 


12 




3i 


14 




2 


12 




2 


13 




3 


13 




2i 


10 




2 


13 




2 


14 




2 


16 




li 


10 


' 2 


12 




24 


13 




14 


15 




2 


8 


1 24 


13 




24 


12 




3 


13 




3 


13 


i 14 


11 




2 


14 




2 


10 




24 


15 


\ 2 


12 




2 


13 




3 


15 




24 


13 




2 


13 




2 


12 




3 


11 




2 


10 




2 


13 \ 


2" 


13 




24 


12 




24 


12 




24 


13 




2 


12 




14 


11 




3 


16 




2 


12 




14 


11 




2 


12 




24 


15 




2 


13 




14 


11 




3 


13 




2 


12 




24 


14 




14 


10 




24 


11 




24 


13 




2 


13 




2 


12 




3 


12 




14 


10 




2 


14 




2 


15 




24 


10 




2 


11 




2 


14 




24 


14 




3 


11 




3 


13 




2 


14 


1 24 


13 




2 


10 




3 


12 




2 


13 


, 2 


13 




24 


.12 




2 


9 




24 


14 




2 


12 




2 


ii 




3 


12 




24 


14 






11 




24 


13 




If 


9 




2 


13 






10 




3 


10 




2 


10 




24 


13 






10 




2 


15 




24 


13 




24 


14 




11 




24 


9 




14 


12 




2 


13 li 




12 




2 


14 




2 


12 




24 


14 






11 




3 


13 



THE SPLENIC FEVEE. 

Texan cattle — Continued. 



153 



Date. 


M 


i 

!> 

13 


Date. 


M 


i 


Date. 


a 

CO 


2 
p- 


Date. 


o5 

a 


> 


Sf pt. 18 


li 


8 


Seiit. 18 


2 


13 


Sept. 18 


2 


11 


Sept. 25 


2 


11 




2 


10 




3 


14 




24 


13 




2 


13 




3 


15 




3 


13 




14 


11 




2 


15 




3 


13 




3 


13 




14 


11 




2 


10 




3 


15 




24 


13 




2 


12 




24 


13 




3 


10 




2 


12 




2 


12 




2 


13 




3 


12 




24 


12 




14 


12 




1* 


11 




2i 


15 




1 


11 




1 


U 




2 


12 




•2 


12 




14 


12 




14 


12 




2 


13 




3 


13 




24 


13 




2 


13 




24 


13 




2 


12 




2 


13 




14 


11 




2 


12 




3 


11 




14 


14 




14 


11 




14 


11 




2| 


12 




14 


13 




2 


13 




1 


10 




•■ii 


10 




2 


14 




2 


10 




24 


13 




3 


11 




24 


13 




2 


11 




2 


12 




2i 


13 




2 


14 




2 


11 




24 


13 




2 


10 




14 


13 




24 


12 




2 


14 




3 


13 




14 


14 




2 


13 




24 


12 




2i 


11 




2 


13 




24 


11 




2 


13 




3 


10 




2 


14 




24 


13 




2 


12 




2i 


12 




24 


15 




14 


9 




14 


13 




3 


13 




2 


13 




1 


10 




1 


9 




2 


10 




14 


14 


Sept. 24 


14 


11 




14 


10 




2i 


11 




1 


12 




14 


9 




14 


12 




3 


13 




14 


13 




14 


12 




1 


9 




2 


13 




2 


11 




24 


14 




14 


12 




H 


11 




24 


13 




2 


13 




2 


13 




1 


11 




2 


13 




2 


14 




2 


12 




• u 


13 




2 


11 




2 


15 




24 


14 




14 


10 




14 


12 




2 


13 




2 


13 




1 


9 




2 


14 




24 


14 




24 


14 




1 


8 




14 


13 




2 


13 




2 


13 




1 


11 




2 


14 




24 


14 




14 


10 




14 


13 




2 


13 




24 


14 




14 


11 




2 


13 




24 


12 




2 


13 




2 


12 




24 


12 




2 


13 




2 


12 




14 


11 




2 


13 




14 


11 




24 


14 




14 


10 




14 


11 




14 


10 




24 


13 




24 


13 




2 


13 




2 


13 




2 


14 




2 


12 




2 


13 




24 


14 




24 


14 




14 


12 




24 


12 




2 


13 




2 


13 




2 


13 




14 

1 


11 
10 




24 
2 


13 
12 




3 

24 


15 
14 














Total 


l,109i 


6,070 




11 


12 

14 




2 
2 


11 
11 




3 




15 
10 










^2 

2 




Sept. 25 


Average 


2.2.59 


12. 36 




14 


13 




2 


12 




IJ 


12 









Sept. 8 . 



20 



Sept. 8. 



Sept. 8. 



o 


10 


2i 


11 


3 


13 



Sept. 8. 



154 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTCJIJE. 

Texan cattle — Continued. 













□ ' 






a 


s 




a 






Date. 






Date. 


% 




Date. 


% 




Date. 




o 
































CQ 


3 




^ 


3 




iS 


J 




Oi 


a 


Soi)t 


. 8 


2i 


14 


Sept. 8 


2i 


16 


Supt. 10 


H 


9 


Sept. 13 


3 


13 






2 

2i 


15 
13 




3 

2i 


15 
13 




2 

2 


10 
10 


1 


2* 


12 




























1 Total 


mi 


360 






3 

2i 


16 
15 


Sept. 10 


2 


16 
11 




2 


10 
10 


1 Average 








2. 387 


12.413 



JIALE AXD TEMALK. 



Sept. 2 


3 


12 


Sept. 4 


H 


10 


Sept. 4 


24 


14 


Sept. 4 


24 


12 




3 


lOJ 




24 


11 




24 


12 




24 


13 




3 


94 




2 


12 




24 


14 




24 


15 




4 


12 




24 


16 ! 




24 


13 




24 


14 




3 


11 




2 


14 




24 


12 




24 


13 




3 


10 




24 


10 




24 


13 




24 


14 




2i 


12 




2 


12 




2 


11 




24 


14 




3 


12 




24 


12 




24 


14 




2 


10 




3 


11 




li 


13 




24 


13 




24 


12 




3 


114 




2 


15 




24 


13 




24 


13 




2i 


.10 




2 


12 




24 


13 




24 


12 




2i 


10 




2 


13 




24 


14 


Sept. 6 


24 


14 




2i 


11 




24 


15 




24 


14 




24 


14 




2* 


11 




3 


12 




24 


13 




24 


13 




3 


11 




" 3 


11 




24 


14 




24 


13 




3 


12 




3 


12 




24 


14 




24 


14 




34 


10 




3 


10 




2. 


11 




24 


13 




3 


12 




3 


10 




24 


14 




24 


13 


S«pt. 3 


2i 


94 




3 


12 




24 


14 




24 


14 




3 


104 




24 


9 




24 


13 




2 


12 




2i 


11 




24 


12 




24 


12 




24 


14 




2i 


13 




2 


13 




24 


10 




24 


14 




3 


12 




3 


10 




24 


11 




2 


12 




2J 


11 




3 


12 




24 


14 




24 


14 




2i 


9 




2 


12 




24 


14 




24 


13 




3i 


11 




24 


12 




24 


12 




24 


14 




4 


13 




2 


10 




24 


10 




24 


1.-. 




:H 


10 




2 


10 




24 


12 




24 


13 




3i 


11 




24 


12 




34 


13 




24 


14 




34 


9 




24 


12 




24 


13 




24 


13 




3i 


10 




2 


12 




24 


14 




24 


14 




3 


104 




2i 


14 




24 


13 




24 


13 




31 


11 




24 


13 




24 


13 




24 


14 




3 


10 




3 


14 




24 


12 




24 


13 




3 


10 




24 


13 




24 


13 




24 


14 




3* 


11 




24 


12 




24 


10 




24 


15 




3* 


9 




24 


11 




24 


10 




2 


12 




n 


114 




2 


10 




24 


14 




24 


12 




2i 


9 




24 


13 




24 


13 




24 


13 


S.p(.4 


2 


10 




2J 


12 




24 


12 




24 


12 




2 


11 




24 


13 




24 


13 




24 


13 




3 


12 




2 


10 




24 


14 




2 


10 




24 


10 




24 


13 




24 


13 




24 


12 



THE SPLENIC FEVER. 

Texan cattle — Continued. 

MALE AXD FEMALK. 



155 



Date. 


a 
1 


> 
13 


Date. 


i 

w 


i 

13 


Date. 






Date. 




> 

3 


Sept. 


2J 


10 


Sept.7 


2i 


11 


Sept.7 


24 


14 


Sept.9 


34 


9 




3 


10+ 




2i 


94 




3 


15 




34 


10 




3* 


114 




2 


84 




3i 


14 




4 


94 




2i 


114 




34 


94 




24 


13 




44 


11 




4 


10 




24 


14 




2i 


14 




34 


11 




2 


94 




si 


14 




2 


11 


Sci)t.ll 


3 


9 




2* 


10 




2 


13 




3 






21 


84 




3+ 


lit 




24 


14 




24 


13 




1 


14 




2i 


114 




2i 


12 




2f 


16 




34 


10 




3 


11 




24 


14 




14 


12 




4 


11 




3} 


12 




24 


12 




24 


10 




34 


94 




2* 


12 




24 


13 




3 


12 




34 


12 




8 


13 




2 


9 




24 


13 




U 


9 




34 


10 




2i 


10 




2 


13 




34 


11 




3 


10 




24 


13 




2f 


10 




3 


10 




3* 


94 




24 


15 




24 


12 




3f 


12 




4 


10 




24 


14 




24 


114 




3 


8 




3* 


11 




3 


13 




1* 


24 




3 


9 


Sept. 7 


3 


94 




4 


15 




2 


13 














3i 
.3 


-10 




9A 


14 


Sept. 8 


3 


12 


Total 


699 


3. 126 




104 




24 


14 


34 


Hi 
















4 


94 




.24 


15 




4 


94 


Average 


2.667 


11. 931 




4i 


9i 




• 24 


14 




3 


9i 










3 


10 




24 


14 


Sept.9 


24 


10 









llErORT OF RESULTS OF EXAMINATIONS OF FLUIDS OF DISEASED CATTLE WITH REFERENCE 
TO PRESENCE OF CRYRTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 



Sir: In accordance with your request, and with instructions received from the Sur- 
geon General United States Army, to investigate the question of the possible cryptogamic 
origin of cattle diseases, we have carefully examined many samples of blood and secre- 
tions from diseased cattle, furnished us from time to time by Professor Gamgee, and have 
experimented with them in various ways. The results of our investigations we have to 
report as follows. 

The questions which we have endeavored to answer are these: 

1st. Are any forms of cryptogamic growth present during life in the blood or secre- 
tions of the diseased animals? 

2d. If so, of what character are they, and what is their probable source? 

Supposing the foregoing queries answered, there would still remain the problem of the 
nature of the connection between the cryptogam and the disease, a problem which we have 
not attempted to discuss. 

As the fungi are the only cryptogams which it is necessary to consider, reference will 
be made to these only. 

The fungi which are supposed to cause disease in animals are, when in their perfect 
state, or at least in such a state that they can be identified, composed of .mycelium and 
spores. But according to the advocates of the cryptogamic origin of disease, neither the 
mycelium nor the spores of the fungus that produces the malady are necessarily or even 
usually to be found in the fluids or tissues of the affected animal, their theory being that 
the disease is produced by the presence in' the economy of minute particles of protoplasm, 
(micrococcus of Hallier,) resulting from development and breaking up of the spores or 
mycelium of a fungus ; from which granules, they assert, can be developed perfect forms of 
fungi, of recognizable genera and sjjecies, by proper "cultivation" outside of the body of 
the animal fluids containing them. 

Thus, when the blood of a pleuropneumonic cow, fresh from the vein, is examined 
with a magnifying power of 1,200 diameters linear, nothing distinctive or unusual may 
appear; the red and white blood corpuscles may be perfectly normal, and nothing like 
spores or mycelium will be seen. But there will probably be, either single or in masses, 
some minute granules or molecules appearing as glistening points scattered over the field. 
If such are not present at first, by keeping the blood exposed to the air for a few hours 
they may be found in abundance. 

Now, it is these little molecules which are asserted to cause disease by their presence 
in the animal economy, and which are claimed to be vegetable in their nature, as being 
developed from and capable of reproducing certain common fungi, popularly known as 
rusts, smuts, or molds. 

To prove the truth of the latter statement, experiments have been made by various 
investigators on the principle of placing the fluids containing the micrococcus in the proper 
conditions as regards warmth and moisture for the development of fungi ; supplying the 
germs with suitable pabulum for their nourishment, and adopting such precautions as are 
possible against the fortuitous introduction of spores of fungi from the atmosphere. And 



EXPERIMENTS WITH CEYrTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 157 

if, under such circumstances, a mold or mildew appears upon the suspected matter, the argu- 
ment is that such mold necessarily sprung from the micrococcus granules as its parent germs, 
and therefore represents the perfect fungus of which such micrococcus is a special form 

Now, since the spores of the common molds are almost omnipresent, the conclusive- 
ness of all such experiments must depend upon the possibility of showing that all extrane- 
ous bodies have been perfectly excluded from the fluids cultivated. 

In detailing our own experiments in this direction, therefore, we give a somewhat 
minute description of the apparatus and processes employed, partly that the value of the 
results obtained may be judged by it, and in part because it may be of use to others at- 
tempting a similar line of research. 

The first thing to be done is to obtain the suspected fluids in a state of purity, with- 
out risk of contamination by spores floating in the atmosphere, and in such a manner that 
they can be preserved for some time without risk of material change. 

To effect this we take a glass tube about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, seal 
one end by the flame of a lamp, and, at a point about three inches from the sealed end, 
draw it out to a slender tube, (a.) 

The tube is then held nearly upright in the flame of a Buusen burner until the whole 
of the sealed end up to the narrow neck is red-hot. The part in the flame is held with 
pincers, the other end in the fingers, and when ^ 

the requisite heat is obtained the slender neck is 

rapidly drawn to a point and sealed. We now 2 z:^=^== — • 

have a pointed, hermetically-sealed tube, (6,) in 

which there is a partial vacuum, and in which by the red heat all organic matters have 

been destroyed. 

This we call a "vacuum tube." 

Suppose, now, that we want some blood for experiment. As soon as possible after 
the death of the animal, lay bare the jugular vein, prick it with a lancet, introduce the 
pointed end of the tube and break it off within the vein, pressure being at the same time 
made upon the vessel from above and below toward the opening by the fingers of an 
assistant. The blood will rush into the tube, and if it has been properly made, will fill it 
for three-fourths of its length. Then, holding a lighted spirit lamp or candle close to the 
vein, withdraw the point of the tube directly from the vessel into the flame, and hold it 
there until sealed. 

If the operation has been properly performed, and the blood be healthy, it will coag- 
ulate and then remain unchanged for an indefinite period. 

Exudates in the pleural or peritoneal cavities, bile, urine, &c., are obtained and pre- 
served in the same way. 

The next step is to place the material thus obtained in favorable conditions for the 
growth and development of any fungus germs which it may contain. The requisites for 
this purpose are warmth, moisture, a supply of nutritive material, and exclusion of foreign 
spores. 

With regard to this last point, we reasoned as follows : 

By no amount of precautions or of complexity of apparatus is it possible to secure 
such absolute isolation of a fragment of tissue or a quantity of blood from possible contact 
with foreign spores, that the results obtained from its cultivation can be considered as posi- 



15S 



Din'ARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tively conclusive. By no means known to us can a piece of lung be transferred from the 
body of an animal to the interior of a glass flask without contact with the atmosphere and 
with instruments, nor even with the more manageable blood can we be absolutely certain, 
when we see its surface covered with mold, that the possibly single spore from which that 
forest sprang must infallibly have been in the vein of the animal whence the blood was 
drawn. It was felt, therefore, that to adopt at the outset extraordinary precautions against 
the introduction of foreign spores would be more apt to lead to error than even taking 
none at all. The method of comparison was therefore resorted to. 

Let us first see, we argued, whether, without taking special pains to prevent the 
entrance of extraneous matters, the tissues and fluids of a diseased animal will produce 
fungi which healthy tissues and fluids placed side by side with them will not. The appa- 
ratus employed consists of the following: 

1st. The so-called "isolation apparatus." 

This consists of a thin flat-bottomed flask, of four to eight ounces capacity, closed by 
a cork dipped in parafiine. Through the cork passes a glass 
tube bent twice at right angles, reaching about two inches into 
the flask, and having the external end loosely closed by a pled- 
get of dry cotton or jewelers' wool. 

This is used in operating upon considerable quantities or 
masses of material which are to remain undisturbed for several 
days, weeks, or months. 

To follow out the changes which occur from day to day, 
and especially to trace under the microscope the commencement 
and progress of any fungous growth, growing slides of various 
patterns, and the so-called culture apparatus, were employed. 
This last was made as follows: 

In a flat glass capsule, six inches in diameter and one and a half inch high, is placed 

a porcelain stand two inches high, on which is laid a 
glass plate, which serves as a shelf to- hold watch 
glasses, growing slides, &c. In the capsule covering 
the stand and plate stands a bell-jar, closed at the 
top by .a rubber cork or cork dipped in parafiine, 
through which passes a tube bent and packed with 
cotton, as in the isolation apparatus. When in 
use the external space between the bell-jar and the 
capsule is filled with a strong solution of perman- 
ganate of potash. We thus obtain a moist chamber, 
which, by means of a water bath, can be readily kept 
at any desired temperature. 

The above -described forms of apparatus are 
essentially those used by Hallier, but he provides for 
drawing into the flask or bell-jar fi-esli air, which he 
purifies from foreign matters by causing it to pass 
through alcohol or a solution of permanganate of pot- 
ash. It seems to us that this plan gives more complexity and trouble without additional 





EXPERIMENTS WITH CRYPTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 159 

security ; for we have repeatedly caused spores of various species of fungi to germinate 
after they had been one or two minutes in alcohol; and spores being not easily wet by 
water, they would readily pass without injury in a bubble of air drawn through any aque- 
ous solution. The risk of spores passing through an inch of dry cotton loosely packed in 
a tube, unless by the aid of a strong and long-continued current of air, is probably very 
small. 

Of course the most satisfactory proof of the presence of fungous germs in the blood 
would be to see them actually develop under the microscope, and produce the forms by 
which they could be identified. To this end we have made use of the various forms of 
growing slides known to microscopists, but with results not very satisfactory. For the 
general purposes of a growing slide, that which has given the most satisfaction is made 
by laying on an ordinary glass slide, three inches by one, a piece of thin, fine, white 
blotting paper of the same size, with an opening in the center three-fourths of an inch in 
diameter, or a little less than that of the thin glass cover used. The edges of the paper 
may be cemented to the glass with a little Canada balsam, although this is not necessary. 

To use it, put in strong alcohol for ten minutes, then in distilled water for the same 
length of time; free the central opening- from water; place in it a drop of the fluid to be 
cultivated, and cover it with a very thin glass cover Care must be taken to keep it 
perfectly flat. Place the slide in a culture apparatus, in which water alone is used as the 
isolating fluid; let one end of a piece of sewing thread rest on the end of the slide and 
the other dip into the water. 

If the slide is to be used without being placed in a moist chamber, the paper should 
be covered with a piece of thin sheet-rubber or oiled silk, of the same shape and size, and 
with a corresponding opening. If it be desired to use high powers, or to trace the germi- 
nations of a spore found in examining a slide, the glass cover may rest on the slide, and 
the blotting paper be placed on instead of under it. 

If it is desired to develop the fruit, the drop of alimentary fluid should be small, 
and a groove should be cut in the paper to the edge of the slide to allow the admission of 
air. The amount of moisture can be regulated at will by varying the size and number of 
the threads used to keep the paper wet. This slide is simple, cheap, and susceptible of 
being so modified that it is available for almost every purpose for which a growing slide 
is required. 

De Bary's growing slides were also used several times, and were very satisfactory. 

Another form of development apparatus, which was used toward the close of our 
experiments, consisted of a six-ounce glass beaker, having a little water at the bottom, 
and hermetically closed by a piece of thin sheet-rubber tightly stretched over the top. 
From the center of this cover there was suspended by a thread a strip of thin blotting 
paper which had been previously soaked in alcohol and distilled water, and on which the 
material to be cultivated had been placed. The thread was attached to the cover and the 
paper by Canada balsam. This is a sort of isolation apparatus, and is more satisfactory 
than the one used by Professor Hallier. 

The material or substratum upon which the cultures are made, and which is intended 
to furnish nutriment to the fungi, is of various kinds. We used extract of beef, healthy 
blood, condensed milk, solutions of cane and grape sugar, pulp of lemon, orange, pota- 
to, &c. 



160 DEPiUJTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

The solutions of sugar used were made with crystallized sugar, and a little tartrate 
of ammonia and ashes of yeast were added to furnish the nitrogen and salts required for 
the ffrowth of fun si. 

All the apparatus was thoroughly cleansed previous to use, by washing with alcohol 
and freshly-boiled distilled water, and the solutions of sugar, milk, beef juice, &c., were 
thoroughly boiled; and, if filtered, reboiled before they were used. 

Series I.- — Examinations of blood and secretions from cattle affected with 

CONTAGIOUS pleuropneumonia. 

A cow, four years old, died with the usual symptoms of pleuropneumonia, near Wasli- 
ington, on the 10th day of February, 1869. Examination was made twenty minutes after 
death. The lungs were stuffed with exudation, and the pleural cavity contained a quantity 
of turbid, very fetid liquid, which, under the microscope, appeared full of actively moving 
monads and bacteria. No communication was found between the lung and the pleural 
cavity, but it is not positive that such did not exist. The blood, under a magnifying 
power of 1,200 diameters, presented no abnormal appearance. Vacuum tubes were filled 
with the blood, and specimens of the pleural fluid and of the bile were also preserved. 
The latter presented no unusual appearance under the microscope. 

Experiment 1, February 10, 1869. — Three six-ounce isolation-flasks were prepared; 
an ounce of Tourtelot's extract of beef placed in each, boiled five minutes, and allowed 
to cool to 90° Fahrenheit. To the first were added the contents of one of the vacuum 
tubes from the cow above referred to ; to the second that of a tube of blood from a healthy 
cow; to the third, nothing. The flasks were then placed in a water bath, and kept at a 
temperature of 85° Fahrenheit. On the 14th of February the flasks were opened. N . 1 
contained large numbers of motionless bacteria, single and in pairs; No. 2 contained 
a very few of the same; No 3 contained none. The flasks were kept one week 
longer, at the end of which time there was no change from the appearances above men- 
tioned. 

Experiment 2, February 10, 1869. — Six watch-glasses were arranged as follows : 
No. 1 contained pulp of fresh lemon and pleuropneumonic blood; No. 2 contained pulp 
of fresh potato and pleuropneumonic blood; No. 3 contained pulp of fresh lemon and 
healthy blood; No. 4 contained pulp of fresh potato and healthy blood; No. 5 contained 
pulp of fresh lemon alone; No 6 contained pulp of fresh potato alone. All the watch- 
glasses were placed in a culture apparatus, which was kept at 80° Fahrenheit in a water 
bath. February 14th a beautiful growth of Aspergillus glaucv.s (Lk.) and Penicillium 
glaucum (Fr.) appeared on watch-glasses Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 'and 6 — most profusely on Nos. 1 
and 3. Watch-glass No. 4 contained nothing. 

Experiment 3, February 10, 1869. — Six watch-glasses were arranged, three with pulp 
of lemon, and three with potato. To four of them a few drops of the pleural liquid were 
added. They were placed in the culture apparatus, and in four days aspergillus and peni- 
cillium were in fruit in all. 

Experiment 4, February 10, 1S69. — This was a duplicate of experiment 1, with the 
exception that bile was used instead of lilood. At the end of ten days' careful examina- 
tion failed to discover any organic forms in eitlur of the flasks. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH CEYPTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 1(U 

Experiment 5, February 25, 1869. — One of the vacuum tube.s of blood from tlie 
above-mentioned cow, and a tube of healthy blood which had been put up at the same 
time, were opened and carefully e.xamined. The blood in each was coagulated, free from 
offensive odor, and under the microscope presented no unusual appearance. The contents 
of each tube were placed in a one-ounce vial with a slip of purified blotting paper, the 
vials sealed and kept at a temperature of 70" Fahrenheit. Ten days later bacteria and 
vibriones were present in each, but no trace of mycelium or of fungus fructification. 

On the 26th of February, 1869, a cow in the last stages of pleuropneumonia was 
killed near Washington, and vacuum tubes were filled from the jugular vein. Tubes were 
also filled with the serum contained in bullae formed by the false membrane lining the 
bronchial tubes. 

About four inches of each jugular vein were removed, ligatures having been first 
applied. Eighteen hours afterward the blood in the veins from which the tubes had been 
filled was carefully examined with a power of 750 diameters. It was coagulated, and the 
serum contained some molecules, single or in chains of two or three, which were motion- 
less, (see plate, fig. 1.) Blood from one of the vacuum tubes contained no such bodies. 
The lung serum contained molecules like those in the vein. 

Experiment 6, February 26, 1869. — In a culture apparatus were placed three watch- 
glasses and two growing slides, arranged as follows: The growing slides and watch glass 
No. 1 contained boiled potato and diseased blood; watch-glass No. 2 contained boiled 
potato and healthy blood ; watch-glass No. 3 contained boiled potato and lung fluid. Twenty- 
four hours later, in the growing slides the red corpuscles had nearly disappeared ; bacteria 
and monads, single or in short chains, were seen; a few moving, but the greater part at 
rest. Seven days later there was no change ; motionless bacteria and monads were present 
in all the glasses, but no trace of mycelium or spores. 

Experiment 7, February 26, 1869. — Seven watch-glasses and five growing slides 
were arranged as follows: AVatch-glass No. 1 contained potato boiled in distilled water; 
watch-glass No. 2 contained lemon boiled in distilled water; watch-glass No. 3 contained 
lemon boiled with diseased blood; watch-glass No. 4 contained diseased blood alone; watch- 
glass No. 5 contained healthy blood alone; watch-glass No. 6 contained boiled potato with 
diseased blood; watch-glass No. 7 contained boiled potato with healthy blood ; growing 
slide A contained boiled lemon with diseased blood ; growing slide B contamed boiled 
lemon with healthy blood; growing slide contained boiled potato with diseased blood; 
growing slide J) contained boiled potato with healthy blood ; growing slide E contained 
boiled potato alone. These were jDlaced in four sets of culture apparatus, and kept at a 
temperature of 78° Fahrenheit. In twenty-four hours a few small cells were seen in slide 
B, which rapidly developed into ordinary yeast, continuing to bud and increase for four 
days. The fluids in watch-glasses 4 and- 5 rapidly putrefied, and were filled with bacteria 
and monads. In watch-glasses 1 and 2 and growing slide E no change had occurred in 
eight days. In the others a few motionless bacteria appeared on the second day, after 
which there was no change. The precautions taken in this experiment to exclude extra- 
neous bodies were great, embracing every point which could be thought of as liable to lead 
to error. In April one of the tubes containing lung serum from this cow was given to Mr. 
Reid, residing near Washington, and with its contents he successfully inoculated several 
cattle, producing in each case the same effects, and, judging by the after results, conferrmg 
21 



162 1)j:i'artment of agricultuee. 

the same iiiiinuiiity against tlie disease as if perfectly fresh virus had been used. The jug- 
ular vein from this cow, which had not been opened, was susjjended in a glass jar, closed 
with a cork dipped in paraffine. This was kept at the ordinary temperature of the room 
and in difi'use daylight. 

June 3, 1869, the jar was opened and the contents examined. The serum had 
drained from the vein and collected in the bottom of the jar, was of an offensive odor, 
and contained bacteria, moving and at rest. No trace of mold on the outside of the vein. 
Tlie contents of the vein showed no bacteria or molecular forms. 

The contents of the vein and the serum which had drained from it were cultivated 
upon various substrata and in the several forms of apparatus, witli the usual results, viz.: 
luxuriant development of cryptococcus and penicillium. 

On the 3d of June, 1869, three months after it kad been put up, one of the vacuum 
tubes of blood from this animal was opened, and the contents carefully examined. They 
could not be distinguished from freshly coagulated blood; the corpuscles were perfectly 
normal, and there was no trace of bacteria or micrococcus. 

This blood was cultivated on growing slides and in the beaker isolation apparatus — 
in one case with negative results, in others with the productions of the usual penicillium 
forms. Healthy blood kept for the same time and treated in the same way gave the same 
results. 

Other experiments were made with the pleuropneumonic fluids by cultivating them 
witli solutions of cane and grape sugar, which will be referred to subsequently. 

The general conclusion from all the observations and experiments we have made is, 
that in the contagious pleuropneumonia of cattle there is no peculiar fungus germ present 
in the blood or secretions, and that the theory of its cryptogamic origin is untenable. 

The significance of the appearance of bacteria, monads, penicillium, &c., in the experi- 
ments above given will be hereafter referred to. 

Series II. — Examinations of blood and secretions from cattle affected with 

THE TEXAS OR SPLENIC FEVER. 

On the 30th of April, 1869, two four-year old steers were killed at Corpus Christi, 
Texas, and vacuum tubes were filled by Professor Gamgee with the blood, urine, and bile. 
Professor Gamgee's notes state that the spleen of these animals weighed respectively three 
and a half and three and three-quarters pounds ; the livers were fatty ; the true stomachs 
presented erosions, and there were punctiform ecchymoses in the pelvis of the kidneys and 
in the bladder. 

The blood and secretions were examined microscopically by Professor Gamgee, imme- 
diately after the death of the animal, with a po-wer of five hundred and fifty diameters, 
but nothing unusual was discovered. 

On the 25th of May one of the blood tubes was opened, and the contents examined 
with a power of eight hundred diameters. 

The blood was dark, firmly coagulated, and without offensive odor. No white cor- 
puscles were seen ; the red corpuscles were mostly normal, a few being crenated or trian- 
gular. Patches of granular matter, a few motionless bacteria, and molecules, single or in 
chains of two or three, having a vibrating, swarming motion, were observed. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH CEYrTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 163 

In short, all the appearances were those usually presented by blood when the white 
corpuscles have disintegrated and it is in the incipient stage of jiutrefaction. But besides 
these there were present yellow globular bodies, smaller than the red blood corpuscles, 
mostly united by twos and threes, though in some cases four or six were strung together, 
and presented the general characteristics of minute spores. Ether, liquor potassa3, and 
sulphuric acid had no particular effect on them. (See plate, fig. 11.) 

In two of the tubes from the same cattle, opened one month later, the contents were 
putrefying, and micrococcus and bacteria were abundant. 

On the 29th of May vacuum tubes of blood and secretions from two yearling steers, 
killed at Houston, Texas, May 18, 1869, were received and examined. These animals 
presented the usual lesions — enlarged spleens, erosions of the stomach, etc. 

The blood from these tubes was in an advanced stage of putrefaction, and filled with 
bacteria and micrococcus. 

The bile from the four-year-old steers was normal in appearance ; tliat from the one- 
year-old animals was very dark and tenacious. Micrococcus was found in each, but not 
abundant. In each there were found moving rods, (bacteria?) which were somewhat 
peculiar, one end being bent, forming a little knob or hook. (See plate, fig. 12.) 
They were of an orange color, probably owing to imbibition of biliary coloring matter. 

The urine in each set of tubes was found to contain micrococcus, bacteria, and cryp- 
tococcus. 

Experiment 1. — Blood from the first series of tubes was placed in a De Bary's grow- 
ing slide, on blotting-paper, in a beaker isolation apparatus, and in a watch-glass under a 
culture apparatus, with a few drops of freshly-boiled solution of sugar. In the growing 
slide cryptococcus forms were observed in thirty-six hours; in twelve hours more, delicate 
mycelium filaments appeared, and on the fourth day the usual fructification of Penicillium 
crustaceum was seen in the air space in the slide. The isolation apparatus was opened on 
the fifth day, and penicillium found on the blotting-paper. In the watch-glass crypto- 
coccus was developed on the second day; two days later this was very abundant, and of 
various sizes and forms, including C. guttulatus of Ch. Robin. 

Four days later mycelial filaments, with dilatations of various forms and sizes, 
[Schizosporangia of Hallier,) covered the surface of the blood. (See plate, fig. 13.) 
One month later careful examination showed nothing but penicillium. 

Experiment 2. — The precautions taken in this case were very great, and were as 
follows: The beakers, culture apparatus, watch-glasses, slides, blotting-paper,, and thread 
were treated with dilute nitric acid, then with liquor potassce, and finally rinsed with 
hot, freshly-distilled water. The knife, glass rod, and file used were cleansed in hot 
alcohol just before being used. The vacuum tubes were cleansed with liquor potassse 
and alcohol just before being opened. The sheet-rubber was thoroughly washed with the 
same fluids. 

To prepare the beaker isolation apparatus, after the articles used had been treated as 
above, the cover with blotting-paper was placed on the beaker, strong alcohol having been 
first poured in, and then it was thoroughly shaken. The alcohol was then removed by 
similar treatment with fresh distilled water. The apparatus was then taken to a room in 
which no exj^eriments had been made, and the fluids added to the blotting-paper. During 
this operation the interior of the apjjaratus was exposed for about one minute. 



164 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICTJLTURE. 

Blood from four-year-old steer (first sot of vacuum tubes) "was placed in a De Bary's 
growing slide, in a watch-glass with pulp of lemon, same with pulp of orange; also in 
beaker isolation apparatus on lemon and orange. 

Blood from one-year-old steer (second set of vacuum tubes) was arranged in the 
same manner. 

And, lastly, a similar series of apparatus was arranged with lemon and orange with- 
out blood. 

The growing slides and watch-glasses were examined daily, with powers ranging from 
200 to 1,000 diameters. 

At the end of five days the isolation beakers were opened. The phenomena in all, 
with one exception, were the same. Penicilliuvi crustaceum (Fr.) was developed in all, 
more slowly and less luxuriantly where no blood had been added. The exception referred 
to above was in the watch-glass to which the putrescent blood from the one-year-old steer 
was added; in this there was a luxuriant growth of Mucor racemosus, (Fres.,) and also 
coremium, a luxuriant and fasciculated form of penicillium. 

It is considered needless to give the details of all the culture experiments undertaken 
with this blood ; suffice it to say that it was placed on various substrata and compared 
wath healthy blood, and the results were in all cases the same, that is, production of peni- 
cillium, coremium, and mucor. 

In cultures undertaken with the urine, either no result was obtained or the usual peni- 
cillium made its appearance. 

Culture of the bile upon lemon gave the same results, but the penicillium gj-owth was 
much less than when the blood was used. Disk-like masses of mycelium, (the Scierotia 
of Hallicr.) usually bright yellow in color, were produced alike with diseased and healthy 
blood. 

To judge, therefore, from the specimens that we have had the ojDportunity of exam- 
ining, it would appear that in the blood, bile, and urine of cattle slaughtered in Texas, 
apparently healthy while alive, but presenting after death the appearances considered char- 
acteristic of the splenic fever, there are present minute bodies corresponding to the micro- 
coccus of Hallier, which exhibit the same behavior with reagents as the spores of fungi. 

In the bile and urine bacteria and cryptococcus cells also occur. The micrococcus 
granules, however, have no specific characteristics, and cannot be distinguished from simi- 
lar bodies which are to be seen in any blood in an incipient stage of putrefaction. Thus, 
on the 4th of June, vacuum tubes were filled with blood from a healthy sheep slaughtered 
near Washington, and this blood, examined sixty hours afterward, contained in equal 
abundance these same bodies (micrococcus) that were found in the blood of the Texas 
cattle. The attempt to give these micrococcus molecules a special and important charac- 
ter by the "cultivation" in various ways of the blood containing them, also failed. In all 
cases the fungous growth that appeared upon the cultivated material was composed of the 
commonest molds, and, instead of being unique as to species or even genus, comprised 
various forms and sizes of cryptococcus, torula, penicillium, coremium, mucor, and the 
so-called schizosporangia of Hallier, of all forms and sizes; these various fungi being 
either simultaneously or successively developed. Moreover, all these varieties of fungi 
can be also developed by a similar cultivation of healthy blood, though not so rapidly nor 
in so great luxuriance. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH OEYPTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 165 

The fact that in our cultivations we never obtained any growths of ustilago, coniothe- 
cium, or tilletia, which were so frequently produced in Hallier's experiments, is probably 
due to the circumstance that no specimens of those fungi were ever brought into the room 
where our experiments were conducted. 

In cases of splenic fever of cattle our experiments, therefore, fail to establish the 
presence of any peculiar or special cryptogamic germs in the blood; and, instead of sup- 
porting the notion that the micrococcus granules which are present in any way cause the 
disease, tend rather to show that their occurrence should be considered as an effect of the 
malady, whether constant and inherent, or altogether fortuitous; for since these granules, 
if fungous in their nature, must be, as indicated by the cultivations, forms of the very com- 
monest moulds, it is certainly a much more probable hypothesis that the disease so destroys 
the vitality of a part of the blood as to render it capable of supporting and nourishing a 
low form of these ubiquitous fungi, which perish when introduced into a healthy subject, 
than it is to imagine a deadly disease, occurring only under certain rigidly prescribed con- 
ditions, as caused by the presence, in the economy of the germs, of fungi notoriously harm- 
less and of universal occurrence. 

It is, of course, possible that these fungi, developed in the fluids of a diseased animal, 
may become the carriers of contagium. This can be determined only by a series of inocu- 
lations upon healthy cattle. 

While the experiments reported above were still in progress, we were fortunate 
enough to obtain a copy of the Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society 
for 1867, containing the "Report of the New York State Cattle Commissioners," in con- 
nection with the " Special report of the Metropolitan Board of Health on the cattle disease." 
This report we read with interest. 

The conclusions of Professor Hallier we do not accept, for three reasons : First, because 
the fluids sent to him were not put up with the proper precautions for exclusion of extra- 
neous spores; second, because the culture apparatus used by him does not give reliable 
results, as we have found by experiment; and lastly, because his reasoning is based on a 
peculiar theory of his own, that penicillium, mucor, etc., are merely unripe forms of certain 
ustilagineous fungi, a theory which cannot be discussed here, but of which it is sufficient 
to say that it has been accepted by no other prominent mycologist. 

The statement of Dr. Stiles, that "the fungous origin of zymotic diseases is now con- 
ceded by the highest authorities in mycological research," will no doubt surprise the said 
authorities; for Berkeley, Curtis, and De Bary, the liighest authorities in England, Amer- 
ica, and Germany, most assuredly concede nothing of the kind. 

With a culture apparatus, a lemon, and a little albuminous fluid, such as blood, serum, 
white of egg, &g., it is very easy to obtain almost any kind of mold; but the laws of de- 
velopment of such organisms are not yet sufficiently known to enable one to draw decisive 
inferences from the results. 

With regard to the magnifying power necessary for the examination of minute cryp- 
togamic forms, it has usually been overrated. A good one-fifth objective is all that is 
necessary, and in making observations on growing slides is the highest power that can be 
conveniently used. We have, it is true, used much higher powers, but do not consider 
them necessary, or even desirable, in microscopic investigations of this character. 



166 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



REMARKS. 



In a general way it may be stated tLat all abnormal appearances observed in tlie 
fluids examined were such as might be attributed to putrefaction. Although much re- 
mains to be learned as to the causes and nature of this process, the tendency of modern 
science is to class it as a species of fermentation, which may be defined as a particular mode 
of decomposition of organized bodies, accompanied by tlie growth of cells of a fungoid char- 
acter, supposed to be the active agents in the process. 

In fluids undergoing the alcoholic, the acetic, lactic, or butyric acid fermentations, in 
wine affected with the bitter fermentation, or in a solution of tannic acid changing to 
gallic acid, we find minute cells, in German called " Hefe," in French " mycoderms," in 
English "yeast.." Although the cells of ordinary yeast and those of the Myeoderma vini, 
aceti, or laetis, differ in shape and size, it is supposed that these variations are due to the 
character of the fluids by which they are nourished, and that they are all really derived 
from the same source, namely, the ordinary molds. Common brewers' yeast [Cryptococ- 
cus eerevisii) is now thought to be not a distinct species of plant, but merely a stage of 
development of several different genera of fungi, such as penicillium, aspergillus, mucor, 
and perhaps several others. And the same is probably true of the other mycoderms. 

When organic substances rich in nitrogen decompose, the action is termed putrefac- 
tion; and in all such, when examined with a sufiiciently high magnifying power, there will 
be found little molecules, either single or in chains of from two to six, and minute color- 
less rods, single or in chains of two or three, straight or spirally twisted, rigid" or flexible. 
All of tliose may be at rest or in motion; if the latter, it may be a vibrating, trembling 
motion, without change of place, or a direct propulsion through the fluid. These minute 
organisms have been successively considered as animals, as algse or water plants, and as 
fungi. The globular molecules are termed monads, and more recently micrococcus. The 
rods have received many, names, but are usually known as bacteria. The tendency of 
investigators of this subject is to consider these monads and bacteria as the mycoderms of 
the putrefactive fermentation, and to suppose that they also are but one form of develop- 
ment of penicillium and other common molds. Mrs. J. Luders asserts that she has seen 
the bacteria emerge from s23ores of penicillium placed in meat juice, and the production 
of yeast by adding putrefying fluids to saccharine solutions has been repeatedly accom- 
plished. 

We have performed some experiments on this subject which may perhaps be of 
interest. 

Our aim was to develop in a saccharine solution an unmistakable yeast cell, with its 
attendant special form of fermentation, from a vibrio or bacterium contained in a putrefy- 
ing fluid; and the practical problem was to devise some means whereby the jDutrid fluid 
might be added to the sugar solution, without at the same time any yeast cells, which it 
might accidentally contain, also passing into the solution and so vitiating the result. To 
accomplish this end wc availed ourselves of the different behavior of yeast cells on the 
one hand and the various cryptogamic oi-ganisms of putrid fluids on the other, in respect 
to their ability to pass through certain tissues. Now, bacteria, vibriones, and molecules, 
either single or in chains, (Monas, Microzymas, Micrococcus, Leptothrix, Zooglea, and 
Schizomyceles, of various authors.) will readily pass through thoroughly moistened filtering 



EXPERIMENTS WITH CRYPTOGAMIC (IROWTIIS. 



1G7 



paper; while, as originally shown by Mitzscherlich, (Pogg. Anna!., 1855, p. 224,) and 
again proved by the following experiments, yeast cells will not. Furthermore, none of the 
above-mentioned bodies will pass through vegetable parchment, although fluids will. If, 
then, upon adding a putrefying fluid to a saccharine solution, through the intervention of 
filtering paper, we produce yeast and fermentation in that solution, while upon making the 
addition through vegetable parchment we produce none, the method of the experiment 
leaves no doubt that the yeast must have been developed from cryptogamic germs other 
than yeast contained in the putrid matter. To carry out this plan of experiment, the fol- 
lowing apparatus was used: 

In a four or six-ounce glass beaker (not lipped) was placed a tube, made by cutting 
oft' the bottom of a common test tube, three-fourths inch in diameter, and 
as high as the beaker. This tube was open at the top, but closed at the i^ 
bottom by two layers of fine, strong filtering paper tied tightly over the 
flaring end with waxed string, and rested on a fragment of glass rod placed 
in the beaker; all these articles having been carefully washed, were put 
together as described, and about two ounces of hot strong alcohol were 
poured into both the tube and beaker. A piece of thin sheet-rubber was 
next tied over the top, hermetically closing both beaker and tube, and the 
whole apparatus, having been thoroughly shaken, so that the hot liquid 
should come fully in contact with every part, was then set aside to cool 
until wanted. 

The solution to be experimented on, which had been boiled, filtered, and then re- 
boiled in a flask fitted up as an isolation apparatus, was in the mean time cooling in that 
vessel. When this had cooled to about 85°, the alcohol was removed from the apparatus 
and the tube was rinsed with a little freshly-distilled water. Then one to two ounces of 
the solution to be experimented on was placed in the beaker, while a little of the putre- 
fying or fermenting fluid was put in the inner tube. The sheet-rubber was finally stretched 
tightly over all and tied as before, and the apparatus was then kept at a temperature of 
75° Fahrenheit to 85° Fahrenheit in diffused daylight, (see plate, fig. 4.) 

The solutions used were of cane or grape sugar, mixed with extract of beef, or with 
tartrate of ammonia and ashes of yeast. 

The following formula gave the best results : 




A. 

Cane sugar 10 parts. 

Tourtelot's extract of beef 10 parts. 

Water 100 parts. 

B. 

Cane sugar 10 parts. 

Tartrate of ammonia 5 parts. 

Ashes of yeast 5 parts. 

AVater 80 parts. 



168 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

Experiment 1. — On the 24th of March, 1869, solution A was phxced in five beakers, 
the tubes of which were closed with paper. In the tube of No. 1 was put a teaspoonful 
of fresh yeast; in those of Nos. 2 and 3 some putrefying fluid from lung of a pleuropneu- 
monic cow ; in No. 4 was place'd a fluid containing large and lively bacteria taken from a 
can of preserved roast meat which had spoiled; to No. 5 nothing was added. Two ounces 
of the solution were also retained in the flask which had remained uncorked for fifteen 
minutes. 

In twenty-four hours the rubber cover of No. 1 was distended, presenting a well- 
marked convexity. Bubbles of gas were rising in the tube, but none in the beaker. The 
covers of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 were slightly distended, and a few bubbles appeared on the out- 
side of the tubes. No. 5 was unchanged. 

In forty-eight hours the covers of the first four beakers were strongly distended, show- 
ing that the closure was perfect, (an important point.) 

In No. 1 the bubbles were still confined to the inside of the tube, while in Nos. 2, 3, 
and 4 they were chiefly on the outside of the tubes. No. 2 was now opened. The fluid 
in the beaker was turbid, filled with molecules, chains of granules, and bacteria. It also 
contained well-marked yeast cells, separate, and just beginning to bud. 

The next day, March 27, beakers 1, 3, and 4 were opened. In No. 1 the yeast was 
confined to the tube, in which it was in full growth. Not one yeast cell could be found 
in the outer fluid. 

In Nos. 3 and 4 there was abundant growth of yeast in the beakers; greatest in No. 
4. In No. 5 there was no change, nor has any occurred at this date. 

At the same time that the beakers were arranged a series of growing slides was pre- 
pared and charged with the same fluids. The changes in these corresponded precisely 
with those in the beakers, except that they were more slow. 

Experiment 2. — Two beakers were arranged with solution A. The tube of No. 1 
was closed with vegetable parchment, that of No. 2 with filtering paper. Putrefying 
fluid from the lung of a pleuropneumonic cow was placed in the tubes, ciare being taken in 
No. 1 that this fluid should stand at the same height as the solution of sugar in the 
beaker. 

In twenty-four hours decided osmose from the tube to the beaker had occurred 
in No. 1, and the rubber cover was concave. In forty-eight hours the cover was still 
concave, and the fluid in the tube was three-fourths of an inch lower than in the 
beaker. In beaker No. 2 the cover was distended, and yeast was evidently in active 
development. 

Four days later the beakers were opened. The cover of No. 1 was now very slightly 
convex ; yeast cells were found in the tube, but none in the beaker, although the latter 
contained molecules or micrococcus. In No. 2 the cover was now concave, owing to 
fructification of penicillium within the tube. Yeast cells were found abundant in the 
beaker. 

Experiment 3. — Eight beakers were arranged with solution B, the tubes being adjusted 
as follows: 

Nos. 1 and 2, closed with filtering paper; contents, putrefying roast beef. Nos. 3 
and 4 closed with filtering paper; contents, blood of pleuropneumonic cow. No. 5, closed 



EXPEEIMEXTS WITH CRYPTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 169 

with filtering paper; contents, fresh yeast. Xo. 6, closed with vegetable parchment; con- 
tents, fluid as in Nos. 1 and 2. No. 7, closed with vegetable parchment; contents, fluid 
as in Nos. 3 and 4. No. 8, closed with vegetable parchment; contents, nothing added. 

To each beaker, except 6 and 7, two growing slides were prepared with the same 
fluids. April 14 the beakers were opened. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 contained abundance of 
yeast, and the covers were strongly convex. Nos. 5, 6, and 7 contained yeast cells in the 
tube, but none in the beaker; the yeast in No.' 6 was very scanty. No. 8 -remained un- 
changed. The growing slides were watched from day to day. Yeast cells appeared in 
those corresponding to beakers 1 and 2 in forty-eight hours; in those corresponding to 3 
and 4, one day later. They appeared in those corresponding to beaker No. 8 on the sixth 
day, but none had appeared in the beaker on the tenth day. 

A number of other experiments were made on this subject, the results of the ma- 
jority of which were in accordance with those above given. Several times the conclusions 
were vitiated from the fact that yeast developed in the sugar solution when nothing was 
added. 

It seems probable, in view of the results of the preceding experiments, that some of 
the bacteria and micrococcus germs are really fungoid in character and capable of develop- 
ment into higher forms. 

It is unlikely that all the minute organisms above referred to are of the same charac- 
ter, but any attempt at classification of them is of very doubtful utility. If it is ever 
successfully done it will probably be by the application of chemical tests. We may 
mention that a solution of sulphate of quinine stops the motion of bacteria very quickly, 
while strychnine has no particular effect; and, again, in a solution of pure carbolic acid, 
two grains to the ounce, we have seen them quite lively twenty-four hours after they had 
been placed in it. 

We do not suppose the above will hold good for all bacteria; indeed, we have 
seen some that were rendered motionless almost instantaneously by solution of carbolic 
acid. 

If the foregoing view of the nature of these bodies be accepted as probable, the 
results of the culture experiments with the fluids of diseased and healthy animals can be 
readily understood. In many animals, whether healthy or diseased, there are no fungous 
germs in the blood. AVe have kept vacuum tubes of blood for four months, and at the 
end of that time the contents were perfectly normal. In other animals there are probably 
germs in the blood during life, as shown by the fact that in vacuum tubes filled from them 
the blood putrefied and the usual mycoderms developed ; but that those germs can develop 
and multiply without dead organic material as a pabulum is very doubtful. 

The fungi which are developed from blood containing these germs are, as might bo 
expected, the common molds, the spores of which are almost ubiquitous — most frequently 
penicillium, next mucor, next aspergillus. 

Other forms may appear, and those above mentioned may vary greatly in size, color, 
and rapidity of development. 

As was stated in the beginning, our object was to determine the presence, and, as far 
as possible, the nature of these germs. The query as to the connection between them and 
disease, whether they should be considered as specific causes of the disease, or as carriers 
22 



170 DErARTMEXT OF AGKICULTURE. 

of contagiuin, or as the signs of destruction of vitality of a part of the fluids or tissues in 
which they are found, the destruction being due to some other cause, is one of great 
interest, but for the answering of which the "lancet and injection tube" will probably be 
far more efficacious than the microscope and "culture apparatus." 

J. S. BILLINGS, 
Bvf. Li. Col. and Asst. Surg. U. 8. Army. 

EDAVARD CURTIS, 
Bvt. Maj. and Asst. Surg. U. 8. Army. 
Hon. Horace Oapron, 

Commissioner of Agriculture. 



4, ^ C 



^^,^- 









10 



/li 



12 




REPORT ON THE FUNGI OF TEXAS. 



Sir : In accordance with an invitation to accompany Professor Garagee to Texas, and 
to make an examination of the botany of the country where he investigated the cattle 
disease, and especially to direct attention to the lower cryptogamic flora, the fungi, and 
algte, and also to examine the grasses and other plants furnishing food for cattle, I reached 
Galveston on the morning of the 28th of March, and proceeded at once to Houston to 
join Professor Gamgee. 

After making a cursory examination into the pastures of the neighborhood of Hous- 
ton, I accepted an invitation from Colonel Ashbel Smith to visit his farm at Galveston 
Bay, Harris County, and reached that place on the 30th. Here I had an opportunity of 
seeing a variety of soils, prairie as well as heavily-timbered land, the latter rather rare in 
this part of Texas. Colonel Smith offered me ample facilities for investigation, and, from 
his long residence in the country and extensive information, I was enabled to derive much 
benefit. I spent five days at this place, and made large collections of fungi and some few 
grasses. T made an examination also of hay which had been cut last summer and stacked 
in the fields. It was perfectly sound, and of bright and healthy color, without any indi- 
cation of moldiness or parasitic growth. The hay was cut from a body of prairie land, 
inclosed by a fence, a portion of which had been burnt off for the purpose. The remain- 
ing portion, in the old dried grasses of the last season, presented no difference In appearance 
from dried grasses in similar situations ; nothing to indicate any increased growth of para- 
sitic fungi, or of liaving suffered from that cause. Colonel Smith was good enough to 
furnish me with notes of his place, which I append, to give an idea of the quality and 
situation of his lands: 

The Evergreen estate is situated in 29° 42' north latitude, at the head of Galveston Bay, within the de- 
bouchure of the united waters of Buflalo Bayou and the San Jacinto Eiver, over Clopper's Bar, and on the east side of 
the river. It is washed in its rear hy the Cedar Bayou, which empties into Galveston Bay souio two miles lower down. 
This hayou is from twenty-five to thirty feet deep. There is scarcely any swamp or bottom, properly so called. The 
geological formation is alluvial. The soil on the San Jacinto or bay side is chiefly a sandy loam ; that at the C'c^dar 
Bayou is a very black, stift' soil, and commonly kuown in this State as " hog wallow," from niunerous depressions of tlio 
surface as if made by the wallowing of hogs. The estate comprises about four thousand acres, pretty equally divided 
in (juantity into prairie and heavily-timbered land. Oak and cedar are the jirevailiiig timber. There are also pines, 
liackberry, pecan, elm, ash, plum, persimmon, &c. There are four species of grapes at least. The mustang and nms- 
cadiue abound in immense quantities. Both these vines, which are heavy bearers, make an excellent wine. The 
grasses are numerous ; those growing spontaneously on the black lands, when protected from the feeding of animals by 
inclosure, make an excellent h.iy. The adjacent waters modify the temperature of the air most sensibly, both iu sum- 
mer and winter. The winter cold is about five degrees milder than that of Houston, as shown by a comparison of 
thermometers. The fields, when cultivated in com, cotton, and sugar-cane, as before the war, yield abundantly. 

After my return to Houston I went into the country, about three miles from the 
town, to a farm-house on the Buffalo Bayou, where I employed about two weeks in exam- 
ining the pastures and grasses and making collections of Fungi and other Cryptogams. 
The wooded growth along the banks of the bayou — consisting of Magnolia, Laurus, Ilex, 
Ungnadia or Spanish buckeye. Pecan, Tilia, &c., affords a fine field for the Fungi, and at 
this place I collected about two hundred distinct species. The pastures were quite green, 
but the grass was still young and scarcely sufficiently grown to be identified. I collected 
here all that were in flower and could be distinguished. ]\Iy attention was directed to their 



172 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

examination especially to ascertain the presence of the lower entophytal forms of Fungi or 
AJgcR. I found them remarkably free of such parasites, as I expected from the early period 
of the year, (the Uredos, Ustilagos, Puccinias, Tilletias, and other entophy tes most generally 
appearing later iu the season,) with the exception of a few species, and they not in 
any abundance; and a Helniinihosporium which infests the same grass {Sporobolus indicus) 
here in the Southern Atlantic States. I found no fungus on the grasses or other cattle 
food to attract ray notice. This place, (Dr. Perl's beef packery,) on the Buffalo Bayou, 
and Colonel Smith's farm, are both in Harris County. With very few exceptions, my 
entire collection of Fungi, amounting to nearly three hundred species, was made at these 
two places; and it was also here that Professor Gamgee had the opportunity of examining 
some twenty-five or thirty cattle, collected from the neighboring pastures and slaughtered 
at the packery. 

On the 23d of April we left Houston by steamer, and reached Galveston the next 
morning, and on the 26th took the steamer for Indianola, where we arrived on the morn- 
ing of the 27th. Finding a sail packet ready to start for Corpus Christi, we took passage 
and reached the latter place on the 29th. The next day we rode out into the country 
some six or eight miles from the town, passing through the " Chaparral," or pastures 
densely set with cactus and various thorny shrubs. For several miles above Corpus 
Christi we passed through the mixed growth of prairie and Chaparral. On the Nueces 
Bay, at the mouth of the river, the face of the country was beautiful, with a gentle rolling 
surface some fifteen or twenty feet above the waters of the bay, thickly covered with 
grasses and flowering plants ; and, interspersed with clumps of the graceful mesquite tree, 
{Algarobia glandulosa,) it presented the appearance of a well-kept lawn. On these prairies 
the grasses were much further advanced in growth than further north, and I added to my 
collection many I had not previously seen, and especially one or two species of mesquite 
grass. 

On our return to Indianola, about one hundred and ten miles north of Corpus Christi, 
we went out some twelve or fifteen miles into the country — all prairie ; and here I was 
also enabled to add largely to my collection of grasses and other Phenogamous plants. I 
saw but few Cryptogams either at Corpus Christi or Indianola, a few lichens and two or 
three species of Fungi comprising all from those localities. These prairie grasses were 
as free of cryptogamic growth as those about Houston, and, although my attention was 
specially directed to them, I could see nothing to excite suspicion as to their being differ- 
ently affected from grasses in other places. There were cei'tainly no entophytal fungi 
infesting them at that time in sufficient quantity to attract my notice. 

The lands which I saw in Texas were all fertile, some of them extremely so. Most 
of the surface was of a fine clayey loam, in some places rather tenacious. From this 
cause during a wet spring, as the last one was, it was difficult to prepare for cultivation. 
I was informed along the coast that the best pastures and the most nutritious grasses were 
found higher up, from fifty to sixty miles above, and there are the best grazing lands. 

About Houston the grasses are killed for a few months during winter, but at Corpus 
Christi and along the southern coast they remain green and furnish good, pasture all the 
year round. I here present an analysis of my collection of fungi according to their natural 



FUNGI OF TEXAS. 



173 



orders, and a comparison 'with those of Rev. Dr. Curtis's North Carolina collection, the 
only full catalogue published in the United States: 



Fungi. 


North Carolina. 


Fungi. 


Percentage. 


No. 


of species. ' 


Percentage. 


22 




935 


39 


02 




715 


34 


4 




150 


G 


9 




188 


8 


[t 


1 


341 


14 



Ko. of species. 

Hyraenomycetes 64 

Asoomycetes 151 

Gasteromycetcs 13 

Hypbomycetes 28 

Coniomycetes : 28 



My whole collection amounts to three hundred and fifteen numbers; but deducting 
thirty, for species too old to be determined, and some represented under other numbers, 
the whole number may be estimated at about two hundred and eighty-five good species. 

It will be seen by the preceding conaparison that the Texan falls below the North 
Carolina collection in relation to numbers of Hymenomycetes, an order which contains the 
Agarics, Boleti, and other large and fleshy species very difficult to preserve except in dry 
weather. The number, however, which I saw were few, and I was impressed at the time 
with the very few representatives of the order in Texas. Perhaps later in the season that 
inequality would not have been observed. I was also surprised to find so few, compara- 
tively, of the entophytal coniomycetes which infest living plants, the rusts, smuts, bunts, Ac. 
This difference would also probably be less at a later period of the season, as it is mostly 
toward autumn, when the seeds of grasses are maturing and the leaves declining, that they 
are in the greatest profusion. 

Attention has been drawn in the last few years to the "Texan cattle disease," and 
much interest has bee'n elicited as to the nature and cause of this disease. In the volu- 
minous and very a,ble "Report of the New York State Commissioners in connection with the 
Metropolitan Board of Health of New York City," this subject has been very thoroughly 
investigated, and one of the results which seem to be definitely reached is the constant and 
universal presence in the blood and bile of the diseased animals of certain cryptogamic 
forms of vegetation, [Micrococci and Cryptococci, so called,) primordial spores or cells, and 
which, under the skillful manipulation of Professor Hallier, of Jena, have developed them- 
selves into a distinct fungus plant, which he- names Coniothecium stilesianum, after the 
distinguished microscopist on the New York board, who first discovered them. Professor 
Hallier, in his letter of December 18, 1863, to Dr. Harris of the Metropolitan Board, says 
in regard to the plant: "Perhaps you may succeed in finding out the places where this 
Coniothecium grows in nature. At all events, it is a parasitical fungus growing on plants, 
and to be looked for in the food of the wild bullocks." 

Whether my examination of a limited portion of the flora of Texas, and comprised 
in so short a time, will throw any light upon these interesting questions, I cannot tell. My 
observations were made with as much diligence and care as I could command, and present, 
as faithfully as I am able to give them, the true condition of the pastures and the crypto- 
gamic vegetation of the region of country visited. As far as I was able to examine, I 
found no species of Coniothecium on pasture grasses or on the dried hay. This, I know. 



174 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

is only negative evidence. The spores of tliesc minute fungi, when they exist, are gener- 
ally in great abundance, and may be wafted about by winds and carried by rains into 
rivers and pools of surface water wliicli the animals drink. The modus operandi of these 
subtle agents of mischief, {semina morborum,) and the manner in which they gain access 
to the animal system, have long baffled the scrutiny of scientific men. To establish the 
fact of direct agency in any of these forms of vegetation, and to trace satisfactorily the 
connection between cause and effect, will require cumulative proof of very strong and un- 
questionable character. The phases through A\4ich they pass, and the different forms they 
assume at various periods of their growth, suggesting an analogy with the partlieno-genesis 
(or alternation of generations) in the animal kingdom, are another element of difficulty in 
the solution of this question. Such investigations, however, as those undertaken by the 
New York commissioners, conducted, as they have been, in a truly scientific and philo- 
sophical .spirit, must necessarily result in throwing light upon the subject, and be ultimately 
crowned with success. 

Isly collection of phenogamous plants comprises about one hundred and seventy spe- 
cies. Of these about two-thirds consist of Graiftinecv. and Qyperaceo&, comprising the grasses 
l^roper and the rushes, sedges, and reeds, and water grasses. I am now engaged in their 
examination, and will furnish to the Department of Agriculture a full series. Besides 
these, I collected sucli lichens and mosses as I could readily obtain, specimens of which 
will also be prepared for the Department. 

Ilecapiiidation of collection made in Texas. 

Grasses and other ]>henogamous plants, about 170 

Fungi, about 285 

Algte, about 25 

IMusci and Hepatictc, about 35 

Lichens, about " 85 

Total, about 600 

Respectfully submitted. 

n. \\. RAVENEL. 

Hon. IIORAOT CapKON, 

Commissioner of Agricidtiire. 



REPORT 



STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS 



PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF THE TEXAS CATTLE DISEASE. 

Depaktment of Ageiculture, 

tStatisiical Diviaion, June 10, 1870. 

Sir : Two years prior to the initiation of the series of investigations chronicled in 
the preceding pages, and long before the public mind of the Atlantic States was aroused to 
the dangers of the summer transportation of cattle fresh from the plains of the Gulf States, 
there was undertaken, under my direction, a systematic investigation of the facts, stated and 
reiterated by reliable farmers in the track of Texas cattle migration, stoutly denied by 
Texans, referred by drovers to every cause but their own cattle, and faintly believed or 
mildly doubted by the people, and even by the papers, of the East. Some affected to regard 
the reports from Kentucky, from Missouri, and from Kansas, as wild exaggerations of the 
truth, or fabrications in extenuation of controversies and violence begotten of encroach- 
ments upon the ranges of cattle-growers of the border. But the reports were too general, 
the statements too direct, and fortified by substantiations too strong, to be wholly ignored. 
Besides, they had been repeated year after year since the introduction of the southern cattle, 
not only in those States, but in the more eastern States of similar latitudes or climatic con- 
ditions. The drovers of Florida and Georgia, in the past generation, had witnessed similar 
results from the movement of coast cattle ; and indeed the disease characterized in the pre- 
ceding report as splenic fever can be distinctly traced back into the eighteenth century, as 
I propose to show. 

It has been in existence ever since cattle were first driven from the country bordering 
on the coast of the Mexican Gulf to the upland regions to the northward, wherever cattle 
were present on the line of march to receive the infection. If the Indians, prior to the 
settlement of the States, ever brought w^ith them, in their northern migrations, Spanish 
or Mexican cattle which were native to or had been acclimated in the lowlands, it is more 
than probable that this disease was communicated to the cattle of the higher latitudes. 

The existence of this disease, proven by adequate testimony from many places and 
through a long period of time, was still either positively unknown or practically ignored 
by agriculturists at a distance from the places of its prevalence ; so that, on the introduc- 
tion of Texas and Cherokee cattle, through the swift intervention of steam, by river and 
by rail, into the heart of the Ohio valley, the results hitherto invariably occurring among 
Kansas or Missouri stock now visited, with equal severity, the cattle of Illinois and Indiana ; 
and forthwith the doubt and indifference with which a distant calamity was regarded were 
exchanged for apprehension and alarm, which spread rapidly eastward, awakening the 
anxiety of stock owners, arousing to action city boards of health, and causing panic among 
purchasers of meats. Even agricultural editors, ignorant of the real character of the 



176 DEPAETMENT OF AGRICCLTUEE. 

disease, wrote of the probabilities of its dissemination from farm to farm like the virus ol 
rinderpest — a result of which no fears could reasonably have been entertained, native stock, 
havinc the disease, not communicating it to others.* Yet this alarm, notwithstanding the 
extravagance of its manifestation, accomplislied good results, calling public attention to 
abuses in cattle transportation, exciting inquiry which resulted in more intelligent views 
of the subject, and promoting legislative action protective of the stock-growing interests. 

The first notice of this disease which I have been able to find is contained in a lecture 
delivered before the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, by Dr. James Mease, 
November 3, 1S14, upon the diseases of domestic animals, in which it is stated that 
cattle of a certain district in South Carolina " so certainly disease all others with which 
they mix in their progress ta the North that they- are prohibited by the people of Virginia 
from passing through the State." It was mentioned as a singular fact that the South 
Carolina cattle had the power of infecting others with which they associated, while they 
themselves were in perfect health ; and also that cattle from Europe or the interior, brought 
to the vicinity of the sea, were attacked with a disease that generally proved fatal. Dr. 
Mease corroborates these views from personal observation in Pennsylvania in 1796. 
September 20, 1825, he read before the same society an " account of a contagious disease 
propagated by a drove of southern cattle in perfect health." The following extract is 
given : 

" In the month of August of the year 1796, I was on a tour for the recovery of my 
health, and having called at Anderson's ferry, [now Marietta, above Columbia, in Lancaster 
County,] on the Susquehanna, I found the people of the house in great distress on account 
of the death of some of the cattle and sickness of others, which had occurred in a few days 
after a drove from the south had left the ^Dlace. Upon inquiry, I was informed that the 
drover merely requested and obtained permission to confine his cattle for one night in a 
plowed field, and I was assured that the stock of Mr. Anderson had no intercourse with 
the drove, which, after staying all night, pursued their journey in the morning to Lancaster. 
There several head were disposed of to different persons, and in every instance, as I was 
informed, they communicated disease to the stock with which they mixed. The admission 
of a single head was enough to give rise to it. As the drove of cattle exhibited no mark 
of illness, the mystery of the cause was inexplicable, and is so to this day. They stopped 
a day or two near Downingtown, thirty-two miles from Philadelphia, on the western 
turnpike, and soon after, the field they occupied received another drove which had been 
purchased by the late Mr. Strieker, of Columbia, on the Susquehanna. It consisted of 
two hundred and sixty head, and, as I was afterward informed by Mr. S., had been pur- 
chased by him in Maryland in the vicinity of Hagerstown, and between that and the 
Cove Mountain. Sixty of this drove were sold by Mr. S. near the Billet, in Montgomery 
County, the greater part of which died. Several others were sold at the Middle Ferry on 
the Schuylkill, eight of them were bought by the late Isaac Coates, above Dowingtown, 
and all died. Some taken to Germantown shared the same fate. Part of the South 
Carolina drove was sold at Blue Bell Tavern, a well-known sale place for drove cattle, and 

* No fact in connection with the Texas cattle disease is more firmly established than this. Among all the rccorde of its 
ravages, iu all the years of its hietiiry, no instance of a secondary generation of the virus, no statement of its commiiuication 
from a sick northern animal to a well one. is noted, with a single exception, (referred to hereafter,) which, if really an exception 
at all, only serves to establish the rule. 



STATISTICAL AND HISTOUICAL UKPOltT OF SI'LKNJC FEVEK. 177 

ot these forty-six: head were purchased by Messrs. Weed it- Holstehi; who then rented the 
meadows on State Island, (where I then resided as lazaretto physician,) and were mixed 
with near two hundred and seventy others, a part of which had been purchased, half fat, 
in the month of June, preceding. In a'ljout four days after the southern cattle had been 
turned out on the meadows they were brought up to the yard round the barn to be branded, 
and after remaining there a few hours they were returned to pasture. The disease first 
appeared, after a few days, among the cows in a field near the barn, and whieh were regu- 
larly milked in the yard used to confine the southern eattle until branded, and in a pair 
of fine working oxen, which were regularly and daily fed and yoked in the same yard. 
Several other cattle were successively attacked, to the number of at least twenty ; all of 
them, except one, died. All those purchased half fat in June died. My advice being 
asked, I went to the field where several of the cattle lay ill, and was told that the first 
symptoms were loss of appetite and weakness of limbs, amounting to inability to stand; 
when they fell tliey would tremble and groan violently. T saw several in this condition. 
Some discharged bloody urine, others bled at the nose. The bowels- are generally very 
costive. Upon being opened, the kidneys were found inflamed and sometimes in a state 
of suppuration, and intestines filled with hard balls. I prescribed strong purgatives. To 
one I gave two ounces of calomel, in sweet oil on the second day of the disease, but with- 
out producing any evacuation. Bleeding was tried without success. The blood was in a 
state of decomposition, and did not coagulate. As a preventive. I recommended smearing 
the nose, horns, forehead, hoofs and tail with tar, to counteract the contagion of the disease 
by creating an artificial atmosphere around the animal, and also the obvious expedient of 
an entire separation of the old stock from the strangers. None of the southern cattle died. 
The circumstance of the cattle from a certain district in South Carolina infecting others 
with the disease above alluded to, has long been known, but the precise locality, or its 
extent, I have not as yet been able to ascertain, notwithstanding my inciuiries on the sub- 
ject. The country of the long-leaf pine has been said to be the native place of the infec- 
tion, but with what certainty I am unable to say. The cattle alluded to are said also to 
emit a peculiar smell which is easily perceived on a warm day, and to be well known in 
South Carolina." 

Old residents of the piedmont region, between the tide-water areas and the Blue Ridge, 
are familiar with this form of disease; and the cattle drovers who have brought stock from 
the country of the long-leaf pine to greater elevations and higher latitudes, testify with 
remarkable unity to the constancy of its appearance and the uniformity of its prominent 
characteristics. " The following statement obtained by the Statistical Division of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, in April, 1867, from Mr. J. Wilkinson, of Athens, Georgia, a 
reliable cattle dealer of good judgment and great experience, embodies the essential points 
of this oft repeated testimony : 

" I have been a cattle dealer for twenty-five or thirty years, and in that time have 
had many deaths among my stock by this disease, and have in consequence taken some 
notice, meanwhile endeavoring to learn its causes and how it was brought about. I notice 
that cattle scarcely ever take the fever if let remain where they were raised, and I am 
fully convinced it is generally brought on by a change of climate. For instance, you take 
cattle from the mountain country to the low country and they will take the fever in a 



178 DKPAirniKMT OF AGHTCULTURE. 

short time and die, but their disease will not aft'ect the cattle raised there; but, on the other 
liand, take cattle raised in what we call the distempered part of our country, that is, the low 
country, from warm latitudes up into a colder one, they will themselves improve all the 
time ; but, without being sick themselves, they will spread the fever and kill the cattle in 
the section of country into whi(h they are taken, till they travel on, or have staid long 
enough for the fever to leave the system. I have been in the habit of driving cattle from 
Florida to A'^irginia, and have found my cattle to improve and do well ; but after I passed 
the line of 34 degrees they began to spread the fever all along the line of travel among the 
stock raised in that section of the country, till 1 struck the line of A-^irginia, which is a dis- 
tance of about two hundred and fifty miles; then it ceased, and all went on well. I suppose 
the reason for its stopping was that my cattle had been- out of the low country long enough 
to become acclimated. Hence, I think the disease is originated from a change of climate, 
either from a colder to a warmer climate, or taking them from a warm climate to a cooler 
and more healthy one. How it is that they carry the disease with them and give it to 
others, without injury to tliemselves. is a mystery I am not able to solve, and will leave 
that to be discussed by the buieau of investigation. ' 

THE INVESTIGATION OF 1867. 

A knowledge of tlie peculiar features of this disease, first described without a name, 
afterward as an "unknown disease," or sometimes "murrain,'* (an unmeaning term applit'd 
to various diseases in the South,) in later times as "Spanish fever," and in the investigation 
of 1868 as "splenic fever," has b( en mainly confined, until recently, to localities in wliicli 
"its effects have been felt. A few paragraphs relating to it found their way into agricultural 
papers, but nearly all that was generally known of its real character and the extent of its 
prevalence, up to the time of its outbreak in Illinois in the summer of 1868, was obtained 
by the Statistical Division and published in the Monthly Eeport of Agriculture. 

In 1866 inquiries were made at several points, and the existence of the disease was 
ascertained in Southern Kentucky, Southwestern Missouri, and Southern Kansas. In 1 867, 
tlie statements hitherto received being more suggestive than complete or satisfactory, a 
circular was issued inquiring as to the places and dates of its appearance, the amount of 
loss sustained and the remedial treatment adopted. 

The replies demonstrated the truth of previous information and the traditions of the early 
cattle trade in the South, showing that the diseasehad hitherto been developed among natives, 
on th(> arrival of the Texans in Southern Kansas and Missouri, in the more elevated sections 
of Arkansas, in parts of Tennessee, in Southern Kentucky, in North Carolina, and on the 
hill lands of Georgia and South Carolina. It was not rejjorted f irther north than Southern 
Illinois, and its very existence appeared to be unknown in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land. A fact suggestive of its climatic origin showed its existence in the mountain lands 
of Georgia, where it was generated by the presence of lowland cattle that had scarcel}' 
been removed a distance of fifty miles. It appeared that cattle driven from Texas to 
New Orleans did not communicate the disease to the cattle of Louisiana. Nor was there 
any evidence that the cattle of any one lowland section, when driven- to another, caused 
an outbreak of the disease. A marked instance was reported from Arkansas, eight 
hundred Texas cattle having been driven directly from Texas into Mississippi County, in 



STATItSTlCAh AN]) IIISTOllK'AL ItHl'OItT OF SI'LHXIC FKVKI;. 1 T^ 

IS6(i, where they remained ami miughnl safely with the native stock This county Hes 
in a latitude sufficiently high to awaken expectation of a fatal result of such migration; 
but it is on the Mississippi, in. a miasmatic region. 

The Texas correspondents were indignant in their comments on the "Texas cattle 
fever " ?i[any claimed that their cattle were not subject to any prevailing diseases. One, ia 
Collins County, admitted that cattle brought there from the North are liable to a disease 
similar in its symptoms. This corresponds with the statement made seventy-five years 
ago concerning the introduction- of -European and upland cattle into the coast districts of 
South Carolina, and with thousands of similar cases since, which are by no means incom- 
patible with the climatic theory which all the facts seem to sustain, but furnish strong 
corroboiTition of it. 

There is no doubt that the cattle of Texas are thrifty and comparatively free from 
diseases, while post-mortem examinations, in Texas and in the abattoirs of the northern 
cities, show enlargement of the spleen and traces of former derangements of the dio-estive 
organs. . It is also a fact that the annual reports of condition of farm stock, made to the 
Department of Agriculture, contain accounts of fatal "murrains," and diseases. of various 
names, from the miasmatic sections of the country, more frequently than from elevated 
locations and higher latitudes. In 1867, in Baker County, Florida, (according to the 
report of a correspondent,) two thousand cattle were destroyed by an unknown disease. 
"Murrain" was reported, in the returns of the spring of 1867, from many portions of the 
South, often without a detail of symptoms or circumstances, but in many cases with descriptions 
highly suggestive of "splenic fever," as in Towns County, Georgia, the return noting the 
prevalence of "murrain," and stating that cattle " pastured with cattle from the South 
take the murrain and invariably die, though those brought from the South do well. ' In 
Barton County, Georgia, twenty cases of "Spanish fever" were reported, and a few in 
Newton County. The investigation of 1867 showed that the Texas cattle migration 
northward, which had been closed during the period of the war, its iuterruption resulting 
in total exemption from the Texas cattle disease for precisely the same period, had been 
vigorousiy prosecuted anew on the return of peace, bringing with it the old disease, which 
raged just in proportion to the extent of the movement of southern droves.. Its ravages, 
in 1866, were mainly confined to Kansas and Missouri, with a few instances of its preva- 
lence in Kentucky and Southern Illinois. A few extracts from these returns will illustrate 
the peculiar features of this disease. 

I^ansas. — In Linn County it had "been prevalent in summer and fall, but is seldom, 
if ever, known in winter." "A disease made its appearance in Burlingame (in Osage) 
about the 1st of August, called by some, Spanish fever; by some, dry murrain. After- 
ward it prevailed in other parts of the county. It was principally confined to the 
Santa Fe road, which runs east and west through the county. Not one in twenty recov- 
ered. The damage could not be less than $5,000. Blooded stock' were more frec[uently 
attacked and rarely recovered. The usual remedies for murrain were tried, but were 
of no avail. After that medicines were given as an experiment, but the cures were so 
few, if any there were, that nothing was established. The first symptoms were a moping 
and an apparent weakness about the loins. A high fever set in, and the animal kept on 
foot, eating and drinking as usual, until it laid down to die. Some were packed in wet 
cloths; some were drenched with salts; to some sulphur, saltpeter,, sweet spirits of niter, 



IHO J)KI"ai;tmknt cf agkiclltiim;. 

lard, copperas, garlic, poke-root, and otlier medicines, in indelinite quantities, were admin- 
istered. Let alone was the best remedy. The animal died in ahout a week after being 
attacked. There seemed no diflBculty in getting physic to. operate; the bowels were gen- 
erally active and open. After death there seemed to have been a high fever in some localities ; 
sometimes in the stomach, sometimes in the kidneys, sometimes in the lungs As a gen- 
eral rule the stomach was dried up; the bladder full of red water, but not bloody. The 
eyes looked as usual and the fore-quarters seemed strong. I account for the different 
appearance in different animals by the fact that injurious medicines of different kinds 
had been given to different animals which I examined. All this stock had pure water 
and good grass. The first case that occurred was that of an ox, which belonged to a 
logging team of seven yoke. This ox, on account of his breachy propensities, was kept 
at night in a stable, and watered from a well of pure water. When not at work in the 
day-time he was staked out to grass with a long rope About two weeks before he was 
attacked with this disease a herd of Texas cattle came along and were stoj^ped and led 
around him for an hour or more. Soon after the rest of this team were attacked, and all 
died but one, which escaped the disease. Along the trail of this Texas herd, which left 
the Sante F6 road at Burlingame, and traveled north, almost every farmer lost stock. 
Cattle that belonged to Burlingame, and ranged north over this trail, nearly all died, 
while those which ranged south all escaped, though they were herded at night, in the 
same yards. Another herd of Texas cattle passed -through the county eight miles east of 
Burlingame, in another direction, and they left their trail, whole herds ijying where they 
passed along. People here are unanimously of the opinion that the disease came from 
Texas. Cattle from the Cherokee country do not bring that disease. Neither do these 
cattle after they have been wintered here." "Spanish fever was brought in by Texas cattle, 
(in Leavenworth,) but was confined to certain limits, on uninhabited Indian reserves, as 
the people would not allow any to be pastured around farms in the settlements. It 
appeared from three to four weeks after the Texas cattle came in or passed by, among 
cattle that grazed on the same ground where the Texans had grazed over night, or staid 
for a greater length of time. It appeared in the latter part of July. " The TexanS arrived 
in June. At? four different times in seven years this has been the case, always three or 
lour weeks, subsequent to the Texan ari'ivals. Loss, ninety-five per cent. <A' those 
attacked. Bleeding, cathartics, stimulants, hydropathy, etc., have been tried by multi- 
tudes. I have personally exhausted the whole range of cattle medicines, and .lost very 
largely in 1867, 1858, and 1859, but found no remedy in any direction; in a word there 
is none known. All were attacked that were exposed to the cause.'' "The Spanish fever 
broke out in December, (in Woodson,) and raged until the 1st of January, when the cold 
weather set in and checked it. In the immediate localities where the Texas cattle crossed 
the country the losses were heavy. Some farmers lost all they had. and no less than 
thirty per cent, of the cattle have died. The methods of treatment have been various. 
I have treated the disease in its incipient stages, and have seen everything tried that 
ingenuity could devise. Calomel did no good; salts and alkalies all failed." "The Spanish 
lever, or something similar, (in Douglas,) made its appearance about the 1st of February 
among a few cattle that were driven from the South. I think the severity of the winter 
caused the greatest loss; about one-third of all the cattle brought from the South have 
died. The only treatment was to give the weaker ones a little more care, and separate 



STATISTICAL AND HISTOKIOAL ItEl'UHT OF Wl'LENU; l-'EVKU. IS I 

them from the stronger ones." "The Spanish fever appeared during the first part of hist 
May, (in Fort Scott,) about tlie time Texas cattle commenced driving, and .continued all 
summer. Texas cattle did not appear to suffer any ill effect from the disease, but fully 
one-half of the native cattle in the county died with it. No remedy has been found for 
this disease." "AVithin the last ten years we have had the Spanish fever in this county 
three times, (in Franklin,) and it is indisputable that in every case cattle from the South 
had been driven tlirougli our county. Yet I have frequently heard those who have 
resided in Texas say that tlie disease known here as Spanish fever is unknown in the 
section they came from. I think it is generally admitted that it is only when cattle are 
driven in droves in hot weather that the disease manifests itself." 

llissouri. — " There were a few cases of Spanish fever among cattle in this county, 
(Howard,) immediately on the public roads on which Texas cattle had been driven. No 
other disease. August was the month in which the above fever occurred. No treatment 
was instituted, and all died." "The Spanish fever appeared in July and August, (in Ca?s,) 
after the passage of droves of stock from Texas and Arkansas. Some sections of the 
county did not suffer; others, through which the travel mainly passed, lost fully five per 
cent, of their stock. The loss throughout the county is fully two per cent, of the whole 
number of cattle. Various remedies were tried to save the sick cattle, but nothing found 
etiectual." " AVe lost some catile last summer with the Spanish fever, (in Callaway,) imme- 
diately on the trail of a drove of Texas cattle that passed through our county. Almost 
every one living on the road where they passed lost more or less, if their cattle ran outside 
or grazed on the same pasture or prairie; but it did not spread from those farms on the 
road. Almost all that were attacked died. AVe know of no cure for it " "Spanish fever 
was introduced into the western part of this county (Christian) by droves of Texas 
cattle passing in October. AA^as very fatal, but spread over only a small portion of the 
county. No remedy applied." "The Spanish fever appeared about the 1st of July, (in 
Newton,) and continued until the 1st of October. Various remedies have been tried, but 
none proved effectual. The fever appeared to be caused by Texas cattle passing through the 
county. Many droves were stopped last summer by the citizens, and not allowed to pass 
until October. There was no sign of disease among the Texas cattle." " The Spanish fever 
is the only disease that has prevailed (in Bates) among the cattle in this section of the 
country. The disease is never seen until from ten days to two weeks after the passing 
through the county of Spanish cattle, which generally commences about the 1st of June 
and continues through the season. The lo"fes in our county for the year 1866 will not fall 
short of sixteen hundred head. In some cases it killed entire herds. There is no effectual 
remedy known to the inhabitants of this county." "The Texas or Spanish fever prevailed 
to some extent in our county, (Chariton,) on the road traveled by a drove of Texas cattle 
through the county, but the disease was not in other parts of the county. The number 
lost was about sixty. No remedy was discovered that tended to alleviate the disease. 
Nearly all the cattle attacked died in a short time." "Spanish fever has prevailed wherever 
Texas cattle have jjassed, (in Cedar,) and attacks our native cattle directly, or soon after 
feeding on the same ground, in the spring, summer, or fall. It is thought that our cattle 
would not take the disease in the winter season, but this may only be conjecture, as no 
large droves have yet been driven here from the South in the winter. The loss is great, 
say eight-tenths. No remedy or treatment has yet been successful." 



182 DKl'AirniKNT OF AGKICULTUliE. 

Kentucky. — "The Spanish fever was introduced into this county (Oldham) in June last 
by cattle brought from Texas by parties to sell to grazers. I have not seen any of the 
diseased cattle this season. The number that died did not exceed fifty head, as the Texas 
cattle only passed througii one corner of the county. The 24th day of June, 1860, there 
were driven on my farm, to stay over night, about fifty head of Texas cattle. Some forty . 
days after they left, about the 18th of August, the disease broke out among my milch 
cows and heifers and work cattle. I lost fourteen head, worth seven to eight hun- 
dred.dollars. At the same time I was grazing a lot of large fat cattle for one of my 
neighbors — about sixty head; out of the number eleven head died, valued about the same 
as my own. This was the first appearance of the disease in this State. I tried all the 
remedies I could think of. Some of the diseased ones recovered, though I will not say what 
remedy reached the disease. Work oxen that crossed the road traveled by these cattle took 
the disease and died. In the last stages of the disease greenish and yellow matter exudes 
from the nose. The animal will live, in some cases, ten or twelve days after being attacked. 
This county has not been entirely free from the disease in the last ten years. Almost 
every farmer has a remedy of'his' own. I have luid the disease in my herd twice; the 
first time I lost one hundred and fifty — nearh' all I had." "Last summer my son bought 
at auction, in Lexington, (Fayette,) twenty-four Kentucky raised cattle. Shortly after the 
purchase five of the cattle were taken sick, four of which died. It was ascertained that 
these five cattle had been driven along the road over which some Texas cattle had traveled. 
The former had been given green corn, and the one that eat freely of it recovered. They 
were all taken sick the same day, and the four died the second and third days after. None 
of the other cattle were affected, though all were in the same pasture. It is a well-known 
fact that Kentucky cattle pastured with, or shortly after Texas cattle, or driven along the 
road, after them, will take this fever. It is believed, however, that it is never taken 
from the native stock. The Texas fever had been very destructive in thi^ neighborhood 
from which these five cattle were driven from Lexington." 

Illinois. — "In the southern part of this county (Perry) Spanish fever appeared in July 
last, among cattle that were pastured on ground that had been previously occupied by a drove 
of Texas cattle. The loss was about seventy head. Various remedies were tried, but 
none of them were effiectual. I understood that all the cattle were attacked with the dis- 
ease that followed the Texas cattle in the pasture, and that all that were attacked died. 
It appears also that the Texas cattle, while feeding in the pasture, had no appearance of 
disease." , 

The losses had now become so heavy in Missouri and Kansas, notwithstanding 
repressive State enactments and organized violent opposition to the cattle movement which 
had proved an effective bar to the malady in certain instances of vigorous enforcement, that 
Congress was formally called upon for aid in a scientific investigation. The Commissioner 
of Agriculture, in calling the attention of Congress to the following resolution of the Leg- 
islature of Kansas, reported progress in his efforts to obtain the actual facts relative to this 
singular and fatal disease, which he feared might "result in great loss to the people of 
Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and possibly to those of other States, if Texas cattle should 
be allowed unrestricted range through them:" 

"Whereas there annually prevails a contagious disease among the cattle of this and 
adjoining States, commonly known as 'Spanish fever,' destroying large numbers, thereby 



STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL REPORT OF Sl'LENIC FEVER. 183 

seriously afl'ecting the interests of productive industry ; ivnd whereas such disease is propa- 
gated by the introduction of cattle from the State of Texas and the Indian Territory, south of 
Kansas; and whereas the want of a scientific investigation of the said disease has rendered 
void any effort to arrest its ravages : Therefore, 

"Resolved hj the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas, {the Senate 
concurring,) That our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States 
are instucted to urge and support an appropriation by said Congress to enable the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture to make the said scientific investigation, and that a copy of this reso- 
lution be forwarded to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress, and also to 
the Commissioner of Agriculture.'' 

It was stated, in connection witii this resolution, that the people of Southern Kansas, 
conscious of their danger, and distrustful of the efficacy of governmental action for their 
defense, were then taking the matter into their own hands, and organizing vigilance com- 
mittees to arrest and force back the Texas cattle movement. A meeting, representing the 
farmers living in the vicinity of McDowell, Humboldt, Clark, and Lyon Creek, had just 
organized a large committee' of resolute farmers, fully able to put in force an illegal but 
salutary restriction. 

THE OUTBREAK IN 1868. 

Early in June of 1868, the "Spanish," "splenic," or "Texas cattle" fever, appeared 
at Cairo, Illinois, the most southern point in the State, and the place of transhipment of 
Texas cattle from steamboat to railroad cars. It was a new and speedy mode of obtaining 
Texas cattle, by which they were introduced into the prairies of Illinois in less time than 
was previously occupied in reaching Kansas on foot. As might have been expected,- the 
cattle in the vicinity of Cairo were soon dying in large numbers; and as repeated ship- 
ments were dispatched into the interior, the stations at which they were yarded and fed, 
preparatory to distribution by different railroad lines, became centers of infection, spread- 
ing disease among native stock coming upon the same herding grounds or drinking from 
the same streams or ponds. 

At Tolono, the junction of the Illinois Central and Toledo and Wabash railroads, 
where the disease appeared about the 20th of July, it swept away nearly all the cattle of 
the neighborhood, two hundred and thirty-five cows dying prior to the 1st of August. 

It spread rapidly through Illinois and Indiana, appearing only where Texas cattle had 
been dropped at cattle yards, or on routes over which they had been driven to feeding 
grounds; and in a few instances in Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and in New England, 
it was communicated by the southern long-horns to native cattle. 

The alarm became general, 'and repressive measures were everywhere adopted by 
boards of health, city governments and State authorities. The Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture, in continuance of efforts now beginning to be appreciated, authorized an investigation 
by a veterinarian then in the country, who had been prominent in similar labors in Europe, 
Prof. John Gamgee, of London. Upon this tour of observation and examination he was 
accompanied by H. D. Emery, editor of the Prairie Farmer, as a volunteer assistant. 
The results of that and other practical inquiries into the nature, causes and operations of 
this mvsterious disease are recorded in this volume. 



184 DEPARTMENT OF A(iRiriJLTrKE. 

Up to tliispoint the statistical investigations conducted iluring the two j^receding years 
had resiilted_in the accumulation, from a wide range of territory', of a mass of facts, which 
were singularly explicit and uniform, pointing to certain marked peculiarities of the disease. 
About the middle of August, at the outset of the medical investigation, I made public a 
summary of results, obtained by previous statistical inquiries, which appeared to establish 
the following conclusions: 

1. That the disease is communicated by Texas cattle, or those from Florida or otlier 
parts of the Gulf coast. 

2. That the disease itself is unknown in Texas. 

3. That the cattle communicating it are not only ajiparently healtliy, but generally 
improving in condition. 

4. That while local herds receiving tlie infection nearlv all die, they never communi- 
cate the disease to others. 

5. That either a considerable increase in elevation, or a distance of two or three 
degrees of latitude from the starting point, is necessary to develop the virus' into activity 
and virulency ; and a further progress of two degrees of latitude or a few weeks in time 
is sullicient to eliminate the 2:>oison from the system. 

6. That Texas cattle removed to other miasmatic sections, as the Mississippi Ijottoms, up 
to the thirty-sixth parallel, communicate no infection to local herds. 

7. Medication has thus far been of little avail. 

The conclusion was thence derived that the disease could not generally spreail and 
involve the cattle of the country ; that New York stock would not take the infection from 
sick western cattle, 'fliough they might from steers recentlv from Texas, or from cattle cars 
infected by such animals, and that the danger might be averted by the arrest of the Texas 
cattle movement during the summer months, or bv separating them in the transit from the 
native cattle, and thoroughly disinfecting the boats and ears in which they are borne ; but 
that the safer plan would be to carry them to eastern markets only in winter, when the 
virus is inert, or after a winter's grazing in safe seclusion on the borders. 

STATISTICAL INVESTIGATION OF 18G8. 

In the autumn of 1SG8 a circular was sent to all portions of the country in which 
the Texas cattle disease had ever appeared, in which the Commissioner of Agriculture 
intimated his jnirpose to give the subject "official attention until its character is definitely 
known, and the traffic in southwestern cattle so regulated by law. as to give safety to our 
farmers, and furnish an outlet to the surplus stock of Texas, and cheap store cattle to the 
feeders of Illinois and Missouri." The following questions were asked: 

1. In what town or locality did this disease first appear in j-our county? 

2. At what date was the first arrival this season of southwestern cattle ? 

3. By wliat route, and from what section did they come? 

4. What numbers of such cattle have been received in your county during the present 
season ? 

5. What was their condition on arrival ? How many were diseased ? How many 
subsequently sickened ? If death occurred, at what interval after sickening ; and were the 
symptoms the same as those of native stock dying from the so-called "Texas fever? " 



STATISTICAL AND HISTOEICAL REPOKT OF SPLENIC FEVER. 185 

6. How many days elapsed from their introduction to the breaking out of the disease 
among the native stock ? 

7. What number of natives died, and in what proportion to tlie whole number attacked ? 

8. Has the disease been communicated, except to animals that have fed upon pastures 
or in lots soiled by the excrements of the southern cattle ? 

9. Has a case occurred of the infection by one native animal of another? 
Responses were prompt and general, of a tenor similar to those of former years, but 

indicating a wider diffusion and greater losses than ever before. A synopsis of this mate- 
rial will convey its essential features, and avoid something of its reiteration. The States 
suffering most severely were Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Kentucky. 
Those in which the disease was communicated by droves coming in on foot will be first 
considered. 

Arkansas. — In accordance with information previously received from this State, the 
returns showed that certain .locations Avere liable to the introduction of this disease, while 
others, generally near the Mississippi or the Arkansas River, were wont to receive Texas 
droves with impunity. Mr. Tennison, of Arkadelphia, Clark County, stated that he had 
been pasturing droves of cattle for two previous years, and as long as they were kept 
separate from his native stock, no outbreak occurred; but in 1868 he penned two droves 
with his own herd and lost six out of eighteen, and at the date of writing feared he should 
lose them all. The symptoms were " depression of the eyes, falling of the ears, discharge 
from nostrils, hair dry and rough, body swollen, no disposition to eat or drink, bloody 
discharges mixed with water ; death occurred in from two to tliree days. " 

About three thousand cattle from Western Texas passed through Drew County, all in 
good condition, though not fat, and no disease resulted. Drew is in the southeastern 
portion of Arkansas, In a latitude and location in which no infection would be expected. 

In Crawford County neither the "Spanish fever" nor any disease resembling it has 
ever occurred. A very large cattle trade has been going on between the citizens of Craw- 
ford and those of Texas, for years before and since the war. Van Buren (the principal 
■ town) is immediately on the north bank of the Arkansas River, and is the main crossing 
on the route from Northern and Eastern Texas, droves of Texan cattle numbering from one 
hundred to one thousand head crossing at Van Buren Ferry almost every month for years 
past. Herds of long-horned Texan cattle are continually pastured in the county, mixing 
and intermixing with the native stock, so that fully one-half of. the stock owned there 
are Texan cattle. 

In Washington County the first cases occurred in the vicinity of Cincinnati. Cattle 
coming through the Indian country, Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee Nations, and entering 
the State a few miles above Cincinnati, began to arrive about the 10th of April ; two or 
three thousand passed through in 1868, and about half that number remained in the county, 
all in healthy, thriving condition. The disease broke out about three months after their 
introduction, in the latter part of July, and destroyed about four per cent, of the native 
cattle, four-fifths of the whole number attacked. 

Kansas. — Since the legislative prohibition of the passage of Texas cattle through the 
State at any point east of the hundredth degree of west longitude, except on the Union 
Pacific railroad, the cattle of the State have been generally exempt from the disease. 
24 



186 DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 

The returns from Osage County state tliat no Texas cattle were allowed an entrance, 
and hence there was no disease ; but that in 1866, native cattle sickened in about a week 
after tlie introduction of a drove from Texas, and fifty died. 

About two thousand head of cattle from the Cherokee country passed through Morris 
County without communicating the disease. 

The fever prevailed in the northern part of Bourbon County, and destroyed six hun- 
dred head of the native stock, ninety per cent, of the whole number attacked. About five 
hundred head of the Texan cattle have entered the county after the 1st of June, coming 
via Fort Smith and Baxter Springs. They were in good condition and apparently healthy. 
The disease broke out in from four to ten days after their introduction. 

Ten steers arrived in Troy, Doniphan County, July 15, all apparently healthy. In 
about five weeks after their introduction twelve head died, and several more were sick at 
the date of the return. None recovered. In former years (before the prohibitory law) the 
native stock suflfered severely from Texas fever. The opinion obtains here that the 
disease is communicated by the feet,* for if Texan and native cattle are kept in adjoining 
pastures, merely separated by a fence, the native stock remain healthy, but if they pass 
. over the track of the Texan cattle, they are almost sure to become diseased. 

Our correspondent in Butler reports that probably one hundred thousand passed 
through that county in 1868, and at least ten thousand remained to winter. They were 
generally healthy, and in fair condition ; probably one per cent, lame, with matter oozing 
out at the top of the hoof, but without any symptoms of Texan fever. He assumes that 
the time from their introduction to the outbreak among the native cattle varies according 
to the temperature — in hot weather from nine to ten days only may elapse before the 
development of the disease, but as the cold season approaches, much longer time is 
required. In colder weather a larger proportion of the native stock attacked, recover. Ko 
case occurred except among cattle exposed to the Texan herds. Texan cattle, after passing 
two winters in Kansas, take the fever as readily as the native stock on being exposed to 
animals recently from Texas. 

In Greenwood County large numbers of cattle died with splenic fever, in September, 
1865. Our correspondent lost fifty-two per cent, of his cattle on the home range, through 
which lay the highway traveled by Texas cattle, while three other herds, four or five 
miles away, were perfectly healthy. The experience of his neighbors was of the same 
character ; and the watering and camping places of the droves were everywhere marked 
by carcasses of domestic cattle. The period of incubation was ten to twenty days. 

The loss from "Spanish fever" in Dickinson County was over-$6,000 in 1868. 

Ten head of oxen died in Republic County in the fall of 1867, after feeding on the 
track of Texan herds. In Butler and Wyandotte several fatal cases were reported 

Missouri. — The losses from this disease in Southwestern Missouri for several years 
prior to the war, and from 1865 to 1868, when legal restrictions on summer driving were 
quite generally enforced, have been extremely burdensome. Vernon County appears to have 
suflered more than other counties. The losses there in 1858 .are estimated at $200,000. 
The arrival of Texas cattle has uniformly been the prelude to prevalent disease and heavy 



"The facta are correct, but tlie deduction may be faulty; a better conclusion would be tbat the virus comes from tlie 
excrement. 



STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL REL'OKT OF SI'LENIC FEVKi;. 1S7 

loss. A full report of the symptoms and ravages of this disease was made bv Dr. Albert 
Badger, of Vernon, from which the following extracts are taken : 

"This disease was tirst recognized as having been propagated by cattle driven from 
Texas twelve or thirteen years ago; it having been in the county some two seasons previous 
to its having been traced to the Texas cattle. 

''From the first breaking out of this fever it was found to be confined to the large 
roads or highways running through the county from south to north,, and, finally, was 
centered on the Texas cattle, I believe, in the year 1853, by its being confined to one 
highway through the county over which these cattle passed that year. On this road the 
disease was quite fatal, killing about fifty per cent, of all the cattle on the road, and 
persons living near the water-courses over which the road crossed lost as high as ninety 
per cent. Captain Freeman Barrows and Peter GoUey, the one living at the ford of the 
Osage River, the other near by, lost ninety per cent.; one of them owning about one 
hundred head, while the other had considerably above that number. Mr'. Collins, living 
at the ford of Clear Creek, south of the above, lost an equal proportion. The disease 
being in no other part of the county that year satisfied the people, on this road at least, 
that they had found the true origin, as it had been among the cattle in the county for two 
summers past. In a season or two after almost every settler of the county was convinced 
that the Texas cattle in some way communicated this fever to our stock, although a few 
persons, living secluded from the great highways, were unbelievers, and still remain so. 
In fact, the way this disease is j)ropagated, the obscurity surrounding it, together with the 
different opinions of persons familiar with it, give them, at least, a reasonable excuse for 
doubting the -prevailing belief. Two things are agreed. to by all: the symptoms of the 
fever and its fatality, the latter being much greater in a warm dry summer than in a cold 
wet one; the disease always ceasing when the frosts have killed the vegetation. 

"The first symptom of the fever, discoverable several days before any appearance of 
sickness, is a dry cough, noticeable by careful observers. In a few days after this the 
nose becomes dry and the ears slightly drooping, and more flies will collect than on 
healthy cattle. At this stage the breath will be found to have lost its sweetness and 
assumed the sickening feverish smell generally, if not always, found in the Texas cattle, 
which I can best describe by comparing it to the smell of our slaughter-houses, or con- 
stantly crowded stock-yards in cities. From this condition in one or two days the fever 
gains its highest stage, and is found to have disseminated itself over the whole body, the 
heat being very great; the arteries of the neck are seen to beat in short, heavy throbs; 
the ears becoming very muck lopped ; the hinder parts reel in walking, the animal getting 
up or lying down with difficulty; the breath and exhalations are very disagreeable; the end 
of the tail usually hollow for two or three inches; the pith in the horn has commenced to 
decay, if not already decayed; the animal refusing to notice the herd, remaining stupid, if 
not disturbed, neither seeking food nor water. Some, in this stage, will pass water mixed 
with blood, and dung naturally, others wijl pass water of a natural color and not dung at 
all, or but very little, and that in a dryish lump. In another type of the disease, which 
will occur perhaps in every eighth or tenth case, after being taken the same way, and 
having the same symptoms as those described, even to the hollow horns and tail, the 
animal does not get weak, sluggish, or stupid, but is always to be found on its feet, in a 
watchful attitude, with head turning to any noise, which, if close by, it rushes toward, 



188 DKI'AI.'TMKNT OF AGHICULTUHE. 

even through fences or against trees, the eyes being of a green cast, very glaring and wild : 
those of the first type have a dead, sleepy, and glazed appearance. Both these classes 
die, as I have described them, without any change, except that the hair deadens before 
death and has the appearance of that on a dry hide. 

"The drove mentioned as having passed through the county in 1853, was owned by 
j\Ir. Richard Burris, of Spring River. They were driven from Texas the fall previous and 
wintered about fifty miles south of here, near Sarcoxie. In the early part of June Mr. 
Burris came into this county with his cattle, a.pparently healthy, in good order, and no 
lame ones in the drove, numbering about four hundred and fifty head. He made a slow 
passage through the county, grazing on the best grasses near the road unmolested, as no 
one knew at this time that this species of cattle communicated a disease to ours. Early 
in July the fever broke out on the road traveled by this drove, lasting until the frost put 
a stop to it, with the fatality previously mentioned. As the disease this year was in no 
other locality except where these cattle were driven and grazed, the citizens, after care- 
fully tracing their route through the county, in all its windings, came to the conclusion, 
for the first time, that this fever was engendered from the Texas cattle. This was fully 
verified in the next year; and up to the outbreak of the war hundreds of cases occurred 
to prove that they were not mistaken. !No Texas cattle, until this year, (1866,) except 
two yoke of oxen worked here in the fall of 1865 by Mrs. Box, have passed into or 
through this county since 1860; neither has there been a case of Spanish fever during 
this period, or any other fatality among our cattle. Mrs. Box's oxen, so far as could be 
seen, were healthy, and not lame. The neighbors whose cattle came in contact with 
these oxen were Mrs. Smalley, Mr. Cothran, and Mr. Packard, all having the Spanish 
fever among their stock, and losing some notwithstanding the lateness of the season About 
three thousand head of Texas cattle passed through this countj^ in the month of June, 
in 1866, and a portion of them reached six or eight miles into Bates, the adjoining 
county, before being turned back by citizens of that county. They returned on the 
same road previously traveled, making no delay in their passage either way more 
than was necessary. The disease did not break out for some six weeks after the passage 
of the droves — many more recovering than usual, and about forty per cent, dying — 
extending into Bates County to the point where they were turned back. It proved more 
fatal on the crossings of water-courses, killing about seventy per cent. In 1858 ray stock 
were exposed to this fever by coming in contact with a drove of Texas cattle. The fever 
was very bad among them, one or two dying every day through the month of August; 
they were in daily contact with Mr. Millender's stock, who kept a herder, not suffering 
them to reach the ground that had been used by the Texas droves, yet he had not a single 
case of fever. When spoken to about keeping my stock from coming in contact with his, 
he told me there was no danger of our own cattle diseasing one another. I have since 
watched many such exposures, and in no case has the fever been propagated. The 
farmers have each an opinion as to how the disease was propagated to their cattle, .some 
thinking it is through the lame ones, a few of whicli will be found in almost every drove 
coming from Texas. Their feet become worn out and sore from long travel, matter forms 
between the hoofs and is left on the ground and in the water through which they pass, 
and, it is contended, this inoculates our cattle by being taken in the stomach or otherwise. 
Others think it is done by the excrements left bv those that are lame or diseased, while 



STATISTICAL AX[) IIISTOKICAL KEPOKT OF SI'LKNIC KKVKK. 189 

some think it is through the slobber or froth which is left on the grass. On one thing 
they agree, that the fever is communicated in some way, raging until the cold weather 
puts a stop to it, no remedy appearing to have any effect. From the few cases mentioned, 
which are selected from many of like nature, I have been led to believe, first, that the 
disease is conveyed to our cattle by those from Texas; second, that the feeding of a large 
herd one winter" in this climate does not prevent the spread of the infection from them the 
next season; third, that Texas cattle, in apparent good health, give disease to ours; 
fourth, that the disease is not contagious from our own cattle to each other; fifth, that 
killing frost will stop tlie disease; sixth, that no remedy has been found to cure this 
fever. 

" By a very close observation of this disease among my own and neighbors' stock for 
the last thirteen years, I have generally found, on opening those that had died, but very 
little blood, and the following results : In those that passed water mixed with blood the 
kidneys and surrounding parts were entirely decayed, the other parts of the body 
sound; those that did not dung at all, or but little, with manifolds perfectly dry and 
partly decayed, while the large stomach would be more or less mortified, other parts 
healthy; those that appeared to dung and pass water naturally, with a liver more or 
less decayed, the gall always swelled to its greatest tension; other parts healthy; 
those that were on their feet in a watchful attitude, the brain was found more or less 
decayed. This leads me to believe the disease is in the blood, which finally becomes 
congestive, destroying the parts in a few hours after it becomes seated, and no doubt in 
many cases could be cured if we knew exactly where it had located itself, lilooddetting 
not being sufficient of its'elf to check the inflammation. The hollow horn and tail no doubt 
is caused by the fever destroying the blood in the extremities before it does in the vessels, 
which it does, in a great measure, .before death. The present law is \'ery defective. 
First, it only precludes the sick ones from passing through the county, and few men under 
oath can say that because a steer has an unhealthy smell he is sick; second, in order to 
separate the lame or sick ones, if any, the drovers, under the present law, are required 
to impound them in order that the selection may be made, &c. But it is little use to 
select the sick ones when there is equal danger from those that are apparently well." 

Mr. iSTathan Bray, of Mount Vernon, Lawrence County, Mo , attested to the infec- 
tion of whole districts in Southern Missouri from 1853 to 1868, except during the period 
of the exclusion of southern cattle by the late war. He states that immediately after 
possession of Forts Smith and Gibson had been regained, the traffic was renewed, and 
the farmers along the military road in Kansas suffered losses of cattle. Away from the 
route traveled by Texas cattle no such losses occurred. Soon these cattle were distribu- 
ted through the interior, and, as a result, heavy losses of horned stock were sustained. Mr. 
B. declares untrue the statement that the- Texas cattle do not themselves have the disease, 
and states that he has seen many sicken and die with it. 

Mr. William Montgomery, of Stockton, Missouri, a dealer in cattle, stated that from 
1861 'to 1865 there Avere no Texas cattle, and not a single case of splenic fever, in South- 
west Missouri. 

Mr. Huron Burt, of Calloway County, Missouri, referred to a lot of oxen driven 
through that county earl}' in the spring of 1865, and states that wherever they grazed a 
virus was left which infected cattle feeding on the same ground, and that it retained its 



190 DEPARTMENT OF AGRlCULTiniE. 

power to infect until the rains of September came. Nine-tenths of those affected died. 
Several gentleman are named, each of whom lost his entire herd. 

The loss in Newton is estimated at three hundred ; in IMcDonald five per cent, of all 
native cattle ; in St. Louis one thousand four hundred rnilcli cows and two hundred and 
fifty to three hundred heifers and steers ; in Henry two hundred to three hundred ; in 
Montgomery forty-five, and but three recovered; in Mississippi forty; in Dade twenty-five 
per cent, of the stock; and small losses occurred in Benton, Bates,. Butler, Cedar, Clark, 
and Polk. 

Kentucky. — Occasional outbreaks of splenic fever have occurred in Kentucky, origi- 
nating in conjunction with the importation of southern cattle, since the first introduction 
of such stock. In Anderson County, in 1868, the disease first appeared on Salt River. 
A drove of southwestern cattle arrived on the 15th of May. They were shipped at Bayou 
Sara, Louisiana, and brought up the river to Louisville ; ninety-Six head were received 
into the county during the season, all in fair condition and apparently healthy, and but 
one sickened subsequently, about the 1st of October, which recovered, after displaying the 
same symptoms as the native stock, viz: "loss of appetite, droopiness, stiffening of the 
joints, contraction of the muscles, and foaming at the mouth, shrinking away of the flesh, 
and when first observed they are generally traveling around in a circle until they get 
down ; most of them showing symptoms attendant upon lock-jaw." About twenty native 
cattle died, and but one or two affected with the disease have recovered, most of them 
dying within twenty-four hours. of the first observable symptoms. One farmer claims to 
have cured a cow by administering a pint of whisky as a dose. The disease broke out 
five months after the introduction of the foreign cattle, and was only communicated to 
animals fed in pastures which had been occupied by southern herds, and no case has oc- 
curred of the infection of one native by another. 

In Jefferson County tlie disease appeared in and around Portland. Cattle coming by 
steamer from New Orleans and by the Mobile & Ohio Railroad began to arrive during the 
winter months, but no disease broke out till the June arrivals. About 6,000 head were 
received into the country during the season of 1868, all apparently healthy, and some in 
such good condition as to be immediately forwarded to the New York market, others being 
sent to pasture. About fifty or sixty native cows died at Portland, (a part of the city of 
Louisville, and one of the principal landing and crossing places for Texan stock on the 
Ohio River.) No deaths occurred beyond this range, and no secondary infection was com- 
municated. 

No disease has occurred in Franklin County since 1866. The Texan cattle, coming 
by the turnpike from Louisville, passed through the county in June or July, 1866 ; they 
were very thin in flesh and sore in the feet, but otherwise appeared healthy. None of 
them remained to be fed or grazed in the county. About one week elapsed from their 
introduction to the outbreak of the disease among the native stock, of which about twenty 
head died, being all that were attacked. The disease was communicated to animals passing 
over the same road as the Texans. but no case occurred of infection of one native animal 
by another. 

Texas fever prevailed in Henry County in 1859, since which time no Texas drove 
has traversed it except one in the winter of 1866, which communicated no disease. 

Infection was brought to Carroll County by fifteen head of Texan cattle coming up 



STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL REPORT OF SPLENIC FEVER. 191 

the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers from Louisiana, which tlie citizens were unwihing to receive 
until assured that they. had been out of Texas a full year. Thoy did not understand that 
they might as safely have come from Texas as from Louisiana. The outbreak occurred 
seventy to seventy-five days from their arrival among cattle pastured with them, of which 
ten died and three recovered. 

Illinois. — The disease first made its appearance at Cairo, about the 10th of June, 
1868, among the cows of the town, causing much fatality and pecuniary loss ; but it did 
not extend through the county, from the simple fact that the migrating cattle were not 
distributed through the country, but were sent northward by rail. 

The heaviest losses occurred in Champaign County, where fifteen to eighteen thousand 
head were reshipped or distributed from Tolono, the junction of the Illinois Central and 
Toledo and Wabash Railroads. The number lost in this county has been estimated at five 
thousand, -worth $150,000 at a low valuation. Our correspondent reported as follows : 
" Spanish fever has prevailed in this county,, commencing on the 27th day of July, 1868, 
and cattle have continued to die of the same disease up to January 1, 1869. In this town- 
ship the loss is ninety per cent.; entire county seventy-five per cent. It is a blood disease ; 
the blood under a powerful glass proves this. It has been argued, and tried to be proven, 
that it is a disease not easily taken. I have now in my possession a large amount of evi- 
dence from good men, showing it to be a disease very easily given. A number of cases 
can be given where the only exposure was by driving a short distance over the road where 
Texas cattle had passed, from tame pasture to barn lots, the natives being kept up all the 
time only when in transit from lots to pasture. Blood examined in the earliest stages of 
the disease shows a diseased condition of the same. As the disease progresses from day to 
day the blood, examined by a good glass, shows the gradual destruction of vitality, and at 
dissolution is a mass of putridity." 

In the southern part of Cook County the disease, communicated by contact with cattle 
shipped to Chicago, prevailed for a short period ; in Ford County the loss was estimated at 
five hundred head ; in Grundy one hundred died in a single town ; in Douglas there were 
forty fatal cases ; in Clinton nineteen ; in Du l^age one man lost eighteen head ; fatal cases 
were also reported from St. Clair, Pulaski, Effingham, Pope, Massac, Macon, and Iroquois. 

Indiana.- — A drove of one hundred animals coming from Texas, by water via, New 
Orleans, was landed at Evansville, and after a stay of six hours taken by rail into the inte- 
rior. They appeared to be in good condition ; none died on the way, and very few after 
reaching their destination ; but the symptoms of those that sickened were the same, a day 
or two before death, as those of the native stock attacked. Nearly a month elapsed from 
the passage of the Texas drove to the outbreak among the native stock, of which fifty died, 
only one case (and that of doubtful convalescence) is known to have recovered. 

In July, 1868, sixty Texas cattle were pastured on the farm of S. A. Fletcher, jr.; 
near Indianapolis, Indiana. His domestic cattle were separated by a fence from the Texas 
stock, and watered at a stream flowing through their pasture. A neighbor had thirty cows 
in a pasture also adjoining the long horns, but the infected water did not pass through it. 
In ten days two of Mr. Fletcher's cattle died, and five others gave evidence of the disease, 
to which all but one succumbed, in periods ranging from twenty-four to forty-eight hours 
from the outward manifestation of the disease. None of the other herd were attacked, 
though the cows were only separated by a fence from the Texas cattle. 



192 DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

A drove of Texan cattle from New Orleans to New Albany by steamer, crossed White 
River at Wood's Ferry, five of which died near that point. A Mr. Cobb subsequently 
lost eight milch cows that pastured along the road they traveled. A Texas steer of another 
lot sickened and died, the symptoms being profuse bloody discharges from the bowels, ears 
drooping, and a generally dull, stupid appearance. From two thousand to two thousand 
five hundred Texas cattle were received by steamer from the mouth of the Red River. 
They were apparently healthy on their arrival, though in poor condition ; some died on the 
way up. Few of the Texan cattle died at New Alban)\ About three weeks elapsed 
from the introduction of the Texan cattle to the outbreak of the disease among the native 
stock, of which seventy-four died out of eighty-one attacked. The disease was only 
communicated to animals fed on the pastures occupied by the Texan cattle ; in pastures 
adjoining the cattle remained healthy ; and no positive case has been reported of the- 
infection of one native animal by another. 

About three hundred were received in Washington County, coming up the Ohio in 
boats to Louisville and New Albany. Some came in March, others as late as June. No 
disease was communicated to natives. About four hundred cattle were received in Bar- 
tholomew County, coming by boat up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to New Albany, 
thence overland, beginning to arrive in May. There was no infection of native stock. 

In Warren County about four thousand head of Texan cattle were received in or 
driven through the county, coming either by the railroad or driven from' Cairo, Illinois. 
After being landed from the steamer, some were poor, others in good condition. Some 
were taken olF the cars dead, but this was supposed to be owing to bad treatment. The 
Texan cattle commenced to arrive about the 1st of June, and the fever appeared about the 
25th of July. About one thousand five hundred of the native stock died, being about nine- 
tenths of the whole number attacked.''' 

* James Park, of William spoi-t, Warren County, Indiana, gives the following particulars, in a letter to Gov. Baker, of one 
of the principal of the infected herds sent east: 

'• On the 27th day of April, 1868, a herd of nine hundred and thirty head ol Texas cattle was purchased in Colorado County, 
Texas. They were driven to the nioulli of the Ked Eiver, a distance of about six liundred miles, reaching that point May 31, 
1868. They were at once shipped from tliat jioint on steamboats, and arrived at Cairo, Illinois, June 4. 1838. From thence 
they were siii|)ped on the Illinois Central IJailroad, and reached Tolono, Illinois, June 7, 1SG8. From this point thej- were 
driven into Warren Comity, Indi.ma, a di.'tunce of about sixty miles. They came into the western boundary of Warren County 
on the 12tli of .lune, 1868. There was a loss of forty-four head, only eight hundred and eighty-six of the nine hundred and 
tliirty head reaching Warren County. These cattle were from four to six years old, all apparently in good condition, nothing 
indicating any disease whatever. There were ticks on very many of them, 

"This herd of Tc.\an cattle on the l',ith day of June, 1868. passed over a certain piece of prairie pasture on the western 
b'lundary of this county, (Warren,) On the lUth day of June a lot of native cattle, nuuibiring ninety-five he.ad, weighing over 
one thousiind thiee hundivd pounds each, was permitted to graze upon the same pasmre. aiut continued to feed upon the same 
until the 4th of August One of the herd was noticed to be sick on the 28th of July, and, up to the 4th of August, eleven were 
sick and three had died. On the 4th of August eight}'-fi)ur of this lot of ninety-five were driven to the West Lebanon station of 
the Toledo and Wabash Railroad, and shipped for the New York market. There were eleven head of anothir lot that had not 
been on this pasture, or in any w.ay exposed to the Texas cattle shipped with the eighty-four. None of the eleven head were 
taken sick on the road to Ni>w "V'ork, hut the sickness was confined to the eighty-four nead exposed to the Texas cattle, at least 
lierded upon pasture passed over by the Texas cattle, 

"On the idgbt of the 12tb of June, 18G8, this lot of Texan cattle herded on another piece of prairie where a lot of one 
hundred head of native cattle were fetdin" On the morning of the 13th of June the Texan cattle were driven to the north ot 
the county. Fit^y-five of the one hundred head of thenaiive cattle were three years old, the rest were one and two — all in good 
growing condition. 

" On the night of the 12th of June, 1863. there were twenty-six head of native fat cattle in an adjoining inclosure to the 
ground occupied by the Texan cattle. About four weeks afler (he 12th of June, these twenty-six fot cattle broke out of their 
inclosure and grazed upon the p.airie where the Texan cattle had been on the night of June 12, On the 29th of July, one of the 
twenty-six was discovered to be sick, and died on the night ot July 31 On the Ist day of August, two of the one hundred 
head died, and some twenty-five more were sick, Frotn that time up to the present, the entire herd have been taken sick, 
eighty tight head out of the one hundred have died ; twenty-two out of the twenty-six liiive also died ; total, one Inmdred and 
ten out of one hundred and twenty-six. The remaining sixteen head have all been sick, and are now very poor and stupid, but 
have the appearance of getting well, 

"As a fact, wherever native cattle have passed over proinid where this Texan herd have been, the native cattle have 
sickened and died. It is also a fact that other Texan cattle have been brought into this county, have been herded with native 
cattle two months, and, as yet, no disease has made its appearance,'' 



STATISTICAL AND HISTOEICAL REPOKT OF SPLENIC FEVER. 193 

The first arrival of southern cattle in Jasper County was between the 25th of May and 
the 1st of June, and six thousand eight hundred were received during the season, coming from 
the Red River country up the Mississippi via Cairo, Illinois. About forty -two days elapsed 
from their introduction to the outbreak among the native stock, of which four hundred 
died, or ninety-nine per cent, of the whole number attacked. The disease was only com- 
municated to animals fed on pastures soiled by the excrements of the southern cattle, and 
no case occurred of the infection of one native animal by another. In one instance, in 
June, a small drove of Texan cattle was driven across the grazing ground of a native herd ; 
the drovers pushed them across as fast as practicable, not allowing them to stop. In six 
weeks the native cattle in that range were taken sick, and several died. About six 
hundred head of cattle, which had wintered in the Louisiana marshes, passed through 
Jasper County about the 25th of May. They were very thin, and about thirty died on the 
road. The disease broke out among the native cattle in from seven to eight weeks, and 
fifty head died, being nine-tenths of the whole number attacked. 

About eight hundred hea"d of Texan and Cherokee cattle were herded in the adjoining 
county, and four hundred natives died from coming in contact with them or their trail, and 
the citizens of Jasper County would not permit them to enter that county unless the owners 
deposited money to make all damages good. The loss was heaviest among the milch cows. 

On the 20th of July a lot of four hundred Texan cattle were purchased in Chicago 
and driven through Lake County, stopping over night in the prairie west of town, all in 
apparently good health. All the native cattle which fed upon or ran over that prairie 
were attacked in about twenty-eight days, and sixty died; only four or five recovering. 
No other southern cattle passed through the county, and no other outbreak occurred. 

In Marion County about one hundred died of splenic fever ; and some losses occurred 
in Hendricks, Lawrence, Newton, and White. Our correspondent in Benton reports the 
loss of four hundred to six hundred head, and makes a statement which conflicts with the 
uniform testimony from other sections, and which therefore should be taken with allowance 
for a possible misapprehension of the facts, so far as it favors the idea that the infection 
can be carried by the wind. It is as follows : " In a neighboring county a herd of Texas 
cattle were driven about eight miles along a road, and, the wind being from the south, 
cattle along on the north side of the road took the disease, without either being driven 
along the road traveled by the Texas cattle, or drinking water that had been exposed in 
any manner. These facts induce the belief that the disease was communicated by the 
wind." Joseph Poole, of Attica, Indiana, reports the case of a cow which took the disease 
in fifty-one days after Texas cattle had passed by the inclosure, which was separated from 
them by a board fence. Another cow in the same inclosure was not infected. It is not 
impossible that contact was effected through openings in the fence; otherwise infection 
must have been cai-ried in the air, as the animal was at no time outside of the inclosure. 
He gives another instance, occurring five miles from the depot, forty-seven days after 
exposure to Texas cattle passing along the road, a fence separating the native cow from the 
traveling herd. 

Ohio. — Thousands of Texas cattle have been carried through this State in the cars, 
usually after pasturage in States further west for a sufficient time to eliminate the infectious 
matter from the system, and almost invariably without reshipment. Hence the disease is 
little known in this State. 
25 



194 DEPARTMENT OF AGHICUETTIRE. 

Several infected cows were brought from one of the western counties to Cohimbiana, 
where they all died, but did not communicate the disease to others. A few cases appeared 
in Hamilton County ; ten or twelve deaths occurred in Greene, from exposure to passing 
Texan stock ; and in "Wyandot a loss of six occurred in two car-loads brought from 
Chicago. 

Neiu York. — This State received many Texas cattle, some of which were in condition 
to communicate disease, yet such were the precautions taken by the State commissioners, 
Messrs. M. R. Patrick, Lewis F. Alden, and J. Stanton Gould, and the metropolitan 
board of health, that outbreaks occurred at only few points. Quarantines were estab- 
lished at Buffalo, Erie, and Jameston, ar.d a rigid inspection of all animals coming into 
the State by rail was vigorously enforced. 

A lot of eighteen Illinois cattle was brought to Sing Sing, July 30, six of which 
died in a few days, and others, believed to be diseased, were slaughtered and disposed of. . 

A lot of sixty-five western cattle, driven from West Albany, August 9, lost one at 
Copake, Columbia County, August 17, and four at Millertoil, Dutchess County, between 
August 14 and 19. 

At Campville, on the Erie road, the disease appeared August 9, and eighteen or 
twenty head of western cattle, taken from the cars on the previous day, died within a 
few hours. 

A lot of eighty-three head was shipped, August o, from Arrow Rock, Saline County, 
Missouri, and at St. Louis two cattle were added to the herd, which arrived at Bull's 
Head, New York, August 19. On the 22d, the two- from St. Louis were taken sick and 
subsequently killed, revealing strong indications of the disease. It does not appear tliat 
any of the eighty-three were infected. 

One of a lot of nineteen head of Illinois cattle was killed at Bull's Head, September 
19, and found to be diseased. The others were quarantined, but none were diseased. 

September 12, twelve cattle died at Pier 12, East River, on the steamer Fah Kee, 
and subsequently five more; the remaining twenty-three survived the quarantine. The 
post mortem appearances were unmistakably those of the Texan cattle disease. 

During Sejjtember, isolated cases occurred which proved to be identical in character 
with those already mentioned. 

Travel-worn Texas cattle were quarantined and subsequently discharged. When 
killed for beef, the spleens were generally larger and darker than those of northern 
cattle, and old cicatrices of the abomasum appeared, and signs of erosions and con- 
gestions. 

In (Jctober, "a number of sudden deaths ' occurred at Hamptonburgh, in Orange 
County, attributed to the Texas cattle disease, assumed to have been taken from other 
native cattle brought from Painesville and other points in Ohio. Dr. Morris, Mr. Gould, 
and Dr. Montfort, made post mortem examinations of two heifers, and Dr. M. afterward 
examined a cow; and these gentlemen entertained no doubt that this was the Texas 
disease. The commissioners report the fact as follows : August 25, forty-four cows and 
heifers, purchased at different places in Ohio, arrived at Hamptonburg, and one died 
a few hours after arrival. Four days after, two of the cows were turned into the dairy 
pasture of John Moul, where they remained till September 1, and, on the 8th, one of 
them died, the other on the 10th. On the 12th, thirteen days after exposure, one of the 



STATISTJCAL AND II18T01IICAL KEPOirr OF SPLENIC FEVEE. 195 

cows in tlie pasture of Mr. Moul was taken sick, and died on the l3tli. On the 14th, a 
second cow was attacked, and died on the folloNving day. A tliird cow sickened on the 
18th, and died the same day. No examinations were made. The two cows of the original 
herd were buried in a pasture in which were two pairs of oxen and two heifers. Tn about 
two weeks one of the oxen became sick, but recovered ; another ox was found dead in the 
pasture, and subsequently both of the heifers. A post mortem examination revealed large 
livers and spleens, and engorged and softened kidneys. These symptoms suggest splenic 
fever; but is it positively ascertained that one of the cows placed in Mr. Moul's pasture 
was not a Texan? The forty -four cows of the two car-loads have been traced to different 
points; seventeen to Hambden, Lake County, Ohio, eleven to Huntington, Lorain County, 
nine to Glarksfield, two to AYakeman, three to Plymouth, and one of the two others came 
from Kentucky. It is but just to say that Dr. K. V. K. Montfort, who reports the case, 
thinks, from conversations with dealers who saw the cattle, that there were no Texans 
among them. Yet no positive evidence to that effect has been presented; and a shadow 
of doubt must continue to rest upon the case, while it is undeniable that thousands upon 
thousands of exposures of cattle to sick natives have been attended with perfect immunity 
from disease in many latitudes and through many years. 

New Jersey. — A large number of Texas and Indiana cattle were brought into the 
cattle-yards and abattoirs of Hudson County in August, sick with Spanish fever. The 
State agricultural society forbade any more being brought into the State; and those sick 
were quarantined, and, after a thorough examination, were put into rendering vats, and 
the yards and pens disinfected with carbolic acid. No d'sease appeared afterward. 
Three inspectors were appointed by the State Society, who quarantined all the suspected 
cattle on arrival. 

August 9, one hundred and forty-one of Mr, Alexander's cattle, sent from Homer, 
Illinois, on the last day of July, were sacrificed at the rendering tanks to avoid all risk 
of public injury by the sale of the. flesh. Post mo7-tem examinations proved the existence 
of the disease in many of them. 

An arrival of about seventy infected cattle, a portion of the Campville lot, at the Bergen 
yards, Hudson City, was reported to Governor Ward on the 10th of August, and on the 
following day the sanitary commissioner, Dr. Stephen Smith, found fifteen animals in a 
dying condition. These animals were a part of the lot of eighty-four which were shipped, 
August 4, reported in the letter of James Park, (quoted in a note on page 192,) from West 
Lebanon Station, Indiana, and were a part of the drove of nine hundred and thirty 
starting, April 27, from Colorado County, Texas, and driven six hundred miles to the 
mouth of Pi,ed River, reaching that point May 31, for shipment up the Mississippi by 
steamboat. 

Pennsylvania. — A lot of western cattle were driven through Westmoreland County, 
stopping over night on a farm three miles south of Greensburg. Some eight or ten head 
took sick during the night and were left with the farmer to be killed. The symptoms 
were said to be those of splenic fever. 

Georgia. — ^A disease supposed to be the splenic fever prevailed in several counties ; 
among them are named Chattooga, Hall, and Pulaski. 



196 DlOl'AHTMENT OF A(;KICULTUKE. 

KECENT INFOR.MATIOX. 

The passage of laws to prevent the summer driving of southern cattle, and their 
strict enforcement, have limited the losses from this disease in a marked degree. A few 
cases have been reported in 1870. One in Chester County, Pennsylvania, furnishes 
another illustration of the invariable and peculiar features of this disease. In 1869 a lot 
of cattle from North Carolina stopped at Avondale ; soon after they had left, other cattle 
turned into the meadow they had occupied became sick. Some twenty were attacked 
and about three-fourths of them died. No other cattle were turned into the same inclo- 
sure and the disease did not spread further. Many believed the ticks, which infected the 
• North Carolina cattle, and were communicated to the natives attacked, caused the disease. 
There is no evidence that these parasites have anything to do with its diffusion or ^'irulence. 

Our correspondent in St. Louis County, Missouri, says: " We had no Spanish fever 
last year, Texas cattle being effectually kept out by the provisions of our law during the 
season they would be likely to spread contagion." In Benton County, "there has been 
no loss by Spanish fever. The vigilance of the people and stringent legal enactments have 
prevented the introduction or the transit of Texas cattle through this county." " Owing 
to the stringent laws of this State, but one small drove of cattle direct from Texas succeeded 
in entering or passing through this county (Vernon) last summer. This drove passed 
hastily along the east border of this county a short distance, through a district sparsely 
settled and containing but a few cows, oxen, etc., for home use. The Spanish fever broke 
out about six weeks after their passage, and continued until after two or three white frosts 
in October, when it ceased to spread, and those with fever at the time mostly recovered. 
About forty-four per cent, of the cattle which grazed on the grounds this drove passed over 
had the fever, two-thirds of which died, the remainder slowly recovering. No other drove 
is reported as having entered tlie county till after frost had killed the vegetation. Many 
thousand then passed through without a known case of fever." A report from Bates says: 
" There has been no Sj^anish fever. The inhabitants of the county are organized and will 
not allow cattle to be driven through, although the laws of the State allow them to come 
in from December to April. I have known of two herds being driven over in the winter, 
one in 1867, the other in 1869, and in both instances many of the native cattle which 
came in contact with them died of the disease a short time after grass became of full bite." 
This instance appears to invalidate the certainty of exemption from infection received 
through stock introduced from the South in winter. 

Last summer tens of thousands of Texas cattle were driven into the southwestern 
part of Butler County, Kansas. There were but few domestic cattle in that locality, but 
they all died. Several herds of Texas cattle, brought direct, during the past winter, from 
Texas and the Indian Territory, have been pastured and fed in Jefferson, Kansas, among 
some of which were occasional losses, but none could be clearly charged to Spanish fever. 
Our correspondent says : " I have wintered (1869) a herd in my pastures in which, after- 
ward, my Durham cattle fed, and no harm has been witnessed." In Franklin, Kansas, 
the splenic fever appeared about the 1st of September. About one hundred head of 
native cattle died, mostly cows. The infection was taken from a drove of Texas cattle 
passing through the county. It is reported from Shawnee, in the same State, that the 
disease has not prevailed since the shipment exclusively of Texas cattle by rail from 



STATISTICAL AXD mSTOlMCAL KEPOKT OF SPLENIC EEVI']!;. 197 

Abilene. The law preventing the herding of Texas cattle in summer has been generally 
enforced, so that few points have been infected. 

A few cases are reported in Washington County, Nebraska. 

The Missouri law has been well enforced ; but a few droves went through Greene and 
Cedar, communicating the disease, which resulted fatally. 

There has been some splenic fever in St. Francis, Arkansas, caused by permitting 
native stock to be penned in lots used by Texas cattle passing through the county ; loss 
very light. 

A lot of Texas cattle brought into Washington County, Virginia, communicated 
disease to the native stock, resulting in one hundred and fifty deaths. The disease is now 
fatal in Salem, Fauquier County, Virginia, and sixty-seven deaths have been reported of 
cattle owned by nineteen farmers and villagers ; the loss amounting to $3,000. It is traced 
in every case to contact with Texan cattle. The people of the village express a determi- 
nation not to allow another carload to disembark there. 

LAWS RELATIVE TO DISEASES OF FARM ANIMALS. 

In closing this partial history of the Texas cattle disease in the United States, a brief 
digest of the laws relating to it may be appropriate. Several of the States have enactments 
bearing upon all contagious and infectious diseases, without a distinct specification of any one ; 
and otbers have laws relating mainly to pleuro-pneumonia, while including other diseases. 
Greater, uniformity in their legal requirements and restrictions is desirable. This digest is 
condensed from a more extended statement in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 
1869. Either the general Government should enact a law providing for the suppression of 
contagious diseases of farm stock and for the regulation of the transportation and movement 
of farm animals, or the State governments should be induced to act simultaneously and har- 
moniously on the subject. Pleuro-pneumonia has a dangerous footing among the cattle of 
the ]\Iiddle States, and is spreading south, and is liable to scatter contagion among western 
herds from which come the principal meat supplies of eastern cities It is far more to be 
dreaded than the splenic fever communicated by Texas cattle, as that infection does not 
pass in continuous progression through one sick animal after another. Yet there will be 
no safety for northern cattle coming in contact with those from the southern coasts during 
the summer months ; and effective prohibition of the movement of such cattle from May 
to November should be secured by efficient legislation. There are other infectious or con- 
tagious maladies of other kinds of farm stock over which legislative control should be 
obtained by a general enactment. 

There are seven different laws on this subject now temporarily in force in England, 
and it is there proposed to consolidate and perpetuate them, with suitable amendments 
The dreaded rinderpest, the ravages of which increased with accelerating ratio until the 
passage of the law requiring and compensating the destruction of infected cattle, was very 
rapidly subdued by compulsory and summary destruction of infected and exposed animals. 

In the sea-board States the laws relating to contagious diseases were generally framed 
with reference to pleuro-pneumonia, but in many of them the provisions are sufficiently 
general to embrace all communicable diseases. 

A board of commissioners has authority, in Massachusetts, to control the introduction 
of diseased cattle and take measures to prevent the spread of disease within the State ; 



198 DKrAimLENT OF AdHlCULTlJJJE. 

and the orders of this board supersede those of selectmen of towns and mayors and alder- 
men of cities. The law provides that cattle diseased or suspected of disease can neither 
be removed to another State, nor killed, except by permission. Owners of animals killed 
on account of disease are indemnified. Town authorities may brand infected animals, and 
for selling animals so branded a fine of $500 may be imposed, or imprisonment for one year. 

The law of Rhode Island punishes the offence of bringing diseased cattle into the 
State with a fine of $100 to $500. . 

Township committees in New Jersey, upon notice of a cattle disease supposed to be 
contagious, are requii-ed to cause the separation of animals presenting symptoms of such 
disease, five hundred feet from any highway or the premises of neighbors. Penalties are 
inflicted for storing the hide or any other part of a diseased animal, and for permitting 
the admixture of convalescent with healthy animals without permission of the committee. 
These committees are empowered to prohibit the passage of cattle through their townships, 
and their authority is enforced by a fine of $100 for each animal driven in disregard of the 
prohibition. The State agricultural society is also authorized to take active measures for 
preventing the introduction of disease. 

A fine of $500, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, are penalties in Pennsyl- 
vania for selling infected animals ; and cattle and sheep are prohibited from .running at 
large In sections where contagious diseases prevail. 

Only healthy animals are allowed to be driven through the States of Virginia and 
North Carolina In Virginia, when diseased cattle are found at large, or driven in viola- 
lation of law, a justice may require the owners to impound them, and upon failure thus to 
restrain them, the animals are killed by order of the justice and buried at the depth of 
four feet. 

The owner of "distempered" cattle in Kentucky is liable to a hne of ten dollars 
each for such animals driven or permitted to run at large throngh the State; and a penalty 
of five dollars each punishes a neglect of burial of cattle dying of disease. 

Laws bearing more directly upon the Texas cattle disease are in operation in some of 
the States west of the Mississippi. 

In Missouri the county court of each county may appoint three competrut and 
discreet persons to act as a board for the inspection of cattle supposed to be infected 
with the Texas cattle disease. This board is empowered to stop any drove, and 
to order the removal of the suspected cattle from the county, and liy the same route of 
entry if practicable. Owners complying with such order are not further liable; in case of 
refusal or neglect to comply, the president of the board may direct the sheriff to drive the 
cattle out by the route upon which they came, or to kill them if the slaughter shall be 
deemed necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. The owners .arc liable for all costs 
of examination, removal, or killing. The act to prevent the introduction of diseased cattle 
into the State provides that no Texas, ^lexican, or Indian cattle shall lie driven or other- 
wise conveyed into any county in the State between the 1st day of March and the 1st 
day of December in each year, but this does not apply to any cattle which have been kept 
the entire previous winter in the State. Cattle may be carried through the State by rail- 
road or steamboat, provided they are not unloaded, but the railroad company or owners of 
the steamboat are responsible for all damages which may result from the Texas fever, 
should the same occur along the line of transportation ; and the existence of such disease 



STATISTICAL AND HISTORICAL RKl'OKT OF SPLENIC FEVER. 199 

along the route shall he prima facie evidence that the cliscaj^e has been corainunicated by 
such transportation. For every head of cattle brought into the State contrary to law a 
fine of twenty dollars may be recovered, or the party may be imprisoned in the county 
Jail not less than throe nor more than twelve months, or may be subjected to both fine 
and imprisonment. It is lawful for any three or more householders to stop any cattle 
which they may have good reason to believe are passing through any county in violation 
of the act. 

Illinois has a law prohibiting the introduction of Texas or Cherokee cattle into the 
State between the 1 st day of October and the 1 st day of March under penalty of a fine 
of not less than $500 nor exceeding $2,000. These fines shall be paid into the county 
treasury for the purpose of distribution pro rata among persons who have suffered losses 
by the introduction of such cattle. Persons and corporations are made liable to injured 
parties for losses. ' It is made the duty of any circuit or county judge, or justice of the 
peace, upon oath of any householder setting forth that Texas or Cherokee cattle are spread- 
ing disease among the native cattle, to forthwith issue a warrant to any sheriff or con- 
stable of the county, commanding him to arrest and impound such cattle and keep them 
by themselves until the 1st day of October following. "Texas and Cherokee cattle" are 
defined to mean a class or kind of cattle without reference to the place from which they 
may have come. 

A law of Iowa, approved April 8, 1863, forbids the introduction or possession of 
Texas, Cherokee, or Indian cattle, but permits their transportation through the State by 
railroads, and {he driving of such cattle when wintered north of the southern boundary of 
the State of Missouri or of Kansas. The penalties for a violation of this law are a fine 
not exceeding $1,000, imprisonment not exceeding six months, and payment of all damages 
accruing. 

A special enactment of Kansas forbids the driving of cattle from Texas or tlie Indian 
Territory between the 1st day of March and the 1st day of December in every year, 
except in the remote and sparsely settled territory of the plains, and then not within five 
miles of any highway, or within that distance of any " ranche" except by consent of its 
proprietor. The penalties for its violation are, for first offence, a fine of $100 to $1,000 
and imprisonment from thirty days to six months ; for subsequent offences the penalties 
are double. 

The general convention held in Illinois, in which most of the States were ably repre- 
sented, considered carefully the subject of restrictive legislation and adopted the following 
resolutions : 

" AVhereas a malignant disease among cattle, known as Texas fever, has been widely 
disseminated by the transit of southwestern cattle through the Western and Il^Torthwestern 
States during the warm season of the year, occasioning great loss- to our farmers and 
possibly endangering the health of our citizens : Therefore, 

"Hesolved, That this convention earnestly recommend the enactment, by those States, 
of stringent laws to prevent the transit through their limits of Texas or Cherokee cattle 
from the 1st day of March to the 1st day of November, inclusive. 

" Resolved, That the interests of the community require the enactment of laws 
making any person responsible for all damages that may result from tlie diffusion of any 
disease from animals in his ownership or possession." 



200 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

CONVENTION OF CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 

Accepting tlie iiivitatiou of Grovemor Oglesby, of lUiuois, the cattle commissioners 
of the several States met in convention at Springfield, December 1, 1868. There were 
present, representatives from Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, 
Missouri, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. 

Various views were presented, and many facts elicited, of a character similar to those 
recorded in these pages; it was made perfectly conclusive that the infection cavue from 
Texas cattle, and that restrictive legislation was necessary, and rigid inspection of 
suspected cattle, with provisions for greater care in transportation. 

The convention recommended the enactment of stringent laws to prevent the transit 
of Texas or Cherokee cattle through their respective States between the first of March and 
the first of November, and to make the owner responsible for damages caused by the 
introduction of such cattle. 

It recommended the appointment of State boards of commissioners who should have 
power to appoint assistants, when needed, to take measures to prevent the spread of 
diseases of domestic animals, to give public notice of the outbreak of any dangerous 
disease, establish regulations for the transit of cattle, place diseased animals in quarantine, 
and cause them to be killed if neccessary to the public protection. It proposed the 
empowering of commissioners to inspect all cattle brought into the State, to exclude any 
animal deemed capable of diffusing dangerous diseases, and to stop cattle trains in which 
no opportunity had been afforded during the preceding twenty-four hours for food and 
water; and recommended penalties for resisting or interfering with such otficers in the 
discharge of their duties, and for the bribery of officers charged with the execution of 
the law, 

RECAPITULATION. 

In conclusion, the following j^eculiarities of this singular disease are presented by a 
systematic sifting of the mass of testimony brought out during the respective investigations 
so briefly chronicled in the foregoing pages : 

1. The disease is communicated by southern cattle. 

2. The cattle communicating the infection, though showing signs of splenic enlarge- 
ment or evidence of once-existing disease, when slaughtered, are apparently well and 
actually increasing in weight and vigor.''' 

o. Infection is not usually communicated in winter, and fields may be safely depas- 
tured in spring which have been occupied in winter by southern cattle. In a single case 
reported an apparent exception is presented. 

4. Animals receiving the infection from southern cattle do not communicate it to 
other natives. This exemption 'is a rule so undeviating that probably not one farmer 
in one hundred, whose stock has suffered by this disease, would fear a dollar's loss by 
communication of their uninfected with sick animals. The authenticated exception is 




riginates 



STATISTICAL AND IIISTOIIICAL nEI'ORT OF SPLENIC FEVEK. 201 

the case, recorded on page 194, at Hamptonburg, New York, and in that no positive 
proof is given that the animal communicating the infection was not a Texan.* 

5. Southern cattle removed to localities characterized by the same climatic conditions 
(as from one portion of the Gulf coast to another, or upon the same parallel of latitude,) 
do not communicate disease to local stock. 

6. The virus appears to be eliminated from the system after a stay of a few weeks 
or months in a northern climate, so that no infection is communicated to the cattle witli 
which -they come in contact. 

7. A preponderance of testimony tends to establish the theory that the infection is 
conveyed through the voided excrements. It does not appear that the disease has ever 
been communicated "except to animals that have fed upon pastures or in lots soiled by 
the excrements of the southern cattle." 

8. The period of incubation is not of uniform length. From causes which may be 
left for medical investigation to determine, the potency of the virus is variable. Sometimes 
a week intervenes between the exposure and the attack; frequently a period of ten days 
or two weeks elapses; sometimes two, thi-ee, or six weeks intervene; and in one case in 
Washington county, Arkansas, the time of incubation was three months. In portions 
of Arkansas, in which the climatic conditions are similar to those of the region from 
which the migrating cattle come, no infection occurs; and in proportion as a section 
assimilates in climate to such region, it is reasonable to suppose the liability to the disease 
is lessened, and, probably, the period of its incubation extended. 

9. The disease runs a brief course of a few days, generally but three or four, often 
but one or two, and proves fatal in nine cases of every ten. 

10. Liability to infection is so imminent that few exposed animals escape. When 
circumstances favor the greatest virulence of the disease, whole herds have often been 
destroyed, and the cattle of entire districts nearly all swept away, while beyond the line 
of exposure, distinctly marked as the boundary of a sweeping conflagration or resistless 
torna^do, not a herd nor an animal has been touched. 

11. Medication has been of little service, though the testimony gives color to the 
probability that a slightly reduced mortality might be secui'ed by skillful medical treatment 
and feeding with soft mashes. 

12. The losses from this disease for a few years prior to the war, and for years since 
its close, cannot be accurately stated, but undoubtedly amounts to several millions ot 
dollars. The greatest fatality has been in Missouri and Kansas. In 1858 the loss in 
Vernon County, Missouri, was $200,000. Losses were widely distributed and severe 
throughout southern Kansas and southwest Missouri in 1866 and 1867; in 1868 they 
Avere less in these States, as the result of general enforcement of restrictive laws, but 
were heavy and alarming in eastern Illinois and western Indiana, when the prairie pastures 

'Joseph Poole, a commissioner representing Indiana at the Illinois convention in 1868, said, on this point: "My own 
experience, and .ill the authentic information I have been able to obtain, goes to show and prove most conclusively that inthe 
most aggravated cases of the disease among native cattle, and where they are dying by scores, and other native cattle are in a 
field or inclosure at a proper distance from any point that may have been infected by Texas cattle, you may drive native cattle, 
sick with this disease, into the field with the native cattle in good health, and not one of the healthy cattle will ever be infected 
or sick with the disease." Such were the facts elicited and generally admitted by all at the convention, after the most strict 
inquiry and quite a spirited discussion upon the subject. The New York commissioners, in an official report dated 
Septembers, 1868, (before the outbreak at Hamptonburg,^ said: "We have not heard of a single case of the disease having 
been taken by any animal that has not been in contact with Texas cattle or with their excreti(ms. We have had autlientic 
evidence that Texas cattle that have passed over a road, dropping the excrement tben'on. have communicated the disease to 
native cattle that passed over the same road forty-eight hours afterward.'' 



202 1)i:i>ai;tmknt ok Aoiiicii/rriM';. 

of lliosn States wer(" iV>r the first, time occupied by cattle direct from Texas. Tlie deaths 
nural)ored about 5,000 in Champai<fn County, Illinois; l,.0OO in Warren, GOO in Benton, 
and 400 in Jasper, in Indiana; and many counties in these and other States were involved 
to a less extent. The mortality of 18G8, reported by our returns, amounts to at least 
15,000 cattle, involving a loss of not less than $500,000. 

13. While meat of diseased animals can never be deemed wholesome food, tlie milk 
and flesh of cattle afFccted with this disease do not generall}^ cause immediate sickness.'-' 

From these characteristics of this climatic disease it is clear that it can never involve 
in general destruction the cattle of the country by successive "generations" of the virus, 
as in the case of the European rinderpest, and that its ravages may be easily confined to 
circumscribed limits, if not prevented altogether, by judicious legislation which shall not 
interfere seriouslv with the freedom or tlie profits of the cattle trade. 

.T. R. DODGE. 
Hon. IfoRAOK Capron, Goinminsioner. 



' Of llic ti'sliinnny beni'ing upon this |Hiirit, tliat nf Mr. Katon, in charge of the Broadlnnd farms of Mr. Alexander, in 
Cliain)mipi iimtity. IllinoiB. \» very stronp. llf slates tliat 140 bead of native cattle died lliere in 18(iH from Texa-' fever, .and 
anions tlieiii Tiearly all tlic I'ows uri tlie plai'e, wlioHe milk was used with ai)|>areiit iMi|jiiiii1y until they eeaseil Ici f^'ive milk ; the 
calves Slicked as Imif.; as their mothers coidd stan<i, and in one instance a calf sucked three cows alternately niitil eiieh ilieil ; and 
in siiiiie cases the hogs coiismned the carcasses uf dead cattle. Not a single case of disca.se or injury resulted from the use 
of meal ivi' milk. 



INDEX, 



A. 

PURO. 

Air pussaj^L'S", condition of, in caseH of luiif,' |)liif<"f 2'2 

America, liistory of tlie lung plague in 1*^ 

Appearance after tlcatli in cases of Umg plagiii- 20 

Arkansas, splenic fever in 185, 197 

B. 

Badger, Dr. Alfred, report of, on symptoms and ravages 

of splenic fever 187 

Barnes, J. K., Surgeon General, report of 64 

Billingf, Dr. J. S., report of, on\'Xauiination.of lluids of 
diseased cattle.with reference to the presence of 

cry ptoganiic growth 156 

IJloeding or congestive stage in splenic fever 89 

general appearance in 89 

temperatnre in 90 

J5rooklyn, lung plague in 12 

C. 

Capron, Horace, Commissioner of Agriculture, report oi; 

to tlie Senate - 1 

Cattle Commissioners' convention 200 

■Cattle disease in 1796 176 

Causes and nature of splenic fever 106 

of the lung plague 22 

Collection of plants made in Te.xas by H. W. Ravenel. .. 174 
Commissioner of Agriculture, Horace Capron, report of, 

to the Senate 1 

Comnmnication of splenic fever in stock yards 116 

Conclusions drawn from experiments in inoculation 48,53 

Contagion and infection of 1 ung plague 29 

Convention in Illinois 199,200 

Cryi)togamic gi'owths, report on examination of fluids of 

diseased cattle with reference to the presence of. 156 

Curative treatment of splenic fever 123 

Curtis, Dr. Edward, report of, on examination of fluids 

of diseased cattle with reference to the presence 

of cryptogamic gi'owths 156 

D. 

Definition of lung fever 84 

Diseases of cattle, general remarks on the reports on 127 

fanii animals, laws relative to 197 

Digestive organs, post mortem appearances of 94 

District of Columbia, lung fever in 15 

losses in, by lung plague 59 

Dodge, J. K., report of statistical and historical investi- 
gations of the progress and results of the Texas 

cattle disease l'''^ 

Duration of the lung plague 20 

Dutch expeiimeuts in inoculation, statistics of 60, 62 



E. 

England, laws relating to diseases of cattle in 197 

Examinations of blood and secretions from cattle affected 

withccmtagiousplcuro-piieumoniaor lung fever. 100 
Examinations of blood and secretions from cattle aflvcted 

with the splenic fever 1(52 

Examinations of blood and secretions from cattle affected 

by lung fever or with splenic fever, remarks on. 166 

Experiments in inoculation 41 

conclusions from 48,53 

with lung plague in France, Ist series 29 

2d series 31 

V. 

Farm animals, diseases of, laws relative to 197 

ill efi'ects of smut in feed of. 73 

Fungi of Te.\as, report of H. W. Kavenel on -. 171 

Ci. 

Ganigee, Prof. John, report of, on the ill ell'ects of smut 

in feed of farm animals 73 

Gamgee, Prof. John, report of, on the lung plague 3 

on the splenic or periodic fever of cattle 82 

General remarks on the reports on the diseases of cattle. 127 

Georgia, splenic lever in 19j 

II. 

Historical and statistical re|ic)rl on Texas cattle disease 

or splenic fever 17>> 

History of the lung plague 5 

in America 18 

1-11 cffecte of smut in feed of farm animals 73 

Illinois, convention in 199,200 

laws relative to diseases of farm animals in 199 

splenic fever in 182, 191 

Incubative stage of the splenic fever 87 

Indiana, splenic fever in l^^l 

Infection and contagion of lung plague 29 

Inoculation, conclusions drawn from experimeuts in ...48, .'j3 

experiments in ''1 

objections to '• 

of the lung plague '^^ 

precautions in ''' 

statistics of Dutch experiments in 60, 62 

Invasion, the period of, in splenic fever 89 

Investigations of 1867 1''8 

Investigations of 1808 184 

Iowa, laws relative to diseases of farm animals in 199 

Ixodes bovis 

ukiUatus ^^^ 



204 



INDEX. 



li. 

Page. 

Kansas, splenic lever in I?9, 183, 185, 196 

Kentucky-, laws relative to diseases of Cvrm auiinals in.. 198 

splenic fever in 182, 190 

Kings county, Long Island, lung plague in 12 

L,. 

Latent form of the lung plague 20 

Laws relative to diseases of farm animals 197 

Illinois convention on 199 

in England 197 

Illinois 199 

Iowa 199 

Kansas 199 

Kentucky 198 

Massachusetts 197 

Missouri 198 

New Jersey 198 

North Carolina 198 

Pennsylvania 198 

Rhode Island 198 

Virginia 198 

Liver and spleen, weights of 133 

Lung fever in District of Columbia , 15 

in Virginia 15 

Luug plague, appearance nfler death in cases of 20 

causes of the 22 

condition of the air passages in cases of 22 

contagion and infection of 29 

duration of 20 

examinations of blood and secretions from cattle 

affected with 162 

experiments with, in France, lat aeries 29 

2d series 31 

history of the 5 

in America 12 

ui Hrooklyti 12 

Maryland 14, 15 

M;i88acliusett3 12 

New Jersey 12, 14 

inoculation of the 40 

ill Pennsylvania 14 

in the mountains 24 

latent form of 20 

losses from 9 

in Great Britain 11 

medical treatment of 34 

nomenelature of 4 

obvious |)remonitory signs of 17 

pathological anatomy and liistologj- of the respi- 
ratory organs in 64 

reputed cause of — 

abundant milk secretion 26 

chills — breathing a cold air 27 

drinking cold or impure water 26 

feeding 24 

hereditary predisposition — congenital pleuro- 
pneumonia 27 

overwork 27 

stabling 25 

stall feeding 25 

report of Prof. John Gamgec on 3 

signs or symptouis of, during life 16 



Page. 
Lung plague — statistics of losses in District of Columbia 

and vicinity 59 

the alleged original causes of the 23 

the |iathology or nature of the 32 

termination of, in cases of 19 

M. 

Massachusetts, laws relative to farm animals in 197 

lung plague in 12 

Maryland, luug plague in 14, 15 

Mease, Dr. James, on si)lcnic fever ITG 

Medical treatment of the lung plague 34 

Missouri, laws relative to tlisease in fai-m animals in 193 

splenic fever in 181, 186, 196, 197 

Musty hay 7S 

oats 77 

Nature of splenic fever 119 

the lung plague 32 

Nebraska, splenic fever in 197 

Nervous system, condition of the, in cases subjected to 

post mortem examinations 96 

New Jersey, laws relative to diseases of farm animals in . 198 

lung plague in 12, 14 

splenic fever in 195 

New York, splenic fever in 194 

Nomenclature of the lung plague 4 

Non-trausniissioa of splenic fever by northern or western 

herds 115 

North Carolina, laws relative to diseased farm animals in . 198 

O. 

Observations of inoculation 42 

post mortem appearances 97 

Objections to inoculation 54 

Obvious ])rcmonitory signs of lung plague 17 

Ohio, splenic fever in 193 

Outbreak of 1868 183 



Pathological anatomy and histology of the respiratory 

organs in pleuropneumonia 64 

Pathology of the lung plague 32 

Pennsj'lvania, laws relative to diseases of farm animals in - 198 

lung plague in 14 

splenic fever in 195,196 

splenic fever in, 1796 176 

Periodic fever — (>S'ec splenic feifr.) 

Plants, collections of, made in Texas by II. W. Rarencl- 174 

Pleuro-pncumonia — {See tuny plaijue.) 

Foat mortem appearance in cases of splenic fever 92 

specific observations of 97 

of animals affected by the use of smutty com 79 

Precautions in inoculation , 55 

Premonitory signs of lung plague 17 

Prevention of ill-eifects of smutty corn 81 

splenic fever 124 

K. 

Ravenel, II. W., report of, on the fungi of Texas 171 

Recapitulation of rcsidts of investigations of splenic fever. 200 



INDEX. 



205 



Page. 
Remarks on the results of examinations of blood and 
secretions from cattle affected by lung fever or 

witb splenic fever 166 

Report of Dr. J. J. Woodward, U. S. A., on the patho- 
logical anatomy and histology of the respiratory 

organs in the pleuro-pneumonia of cattle 64 

Drs. Billings and Curtis, on results of examinations 
of diseased cattle, with reference to the presence 

of cryptogamic growths 156 

H. W. Ravenel, on the fungi of Texas 171 

Prof John Gamgee on the ill effects of smut in 

feed of farm animals 73 

Prof John Gamgee on the lung plague 3 

Prof. John Gamgee on the splenic or periodic fever 

of cattle 82 

J. R. Dodge, on the statistical aud historical inves- 
tigatioiisof the progress and results of the Texas 

cattle disease 175 

the Commissioner of Agriculture, Horace Capron, 

to the Sen.ate 1 

Re|)orts on diseases of cattle, general remarks on 127 

Rhode Island, laws relative to diseases of farm animals in . 198 
Rusty straw 78 

Seasons, influence of, in developing the splenic fever 117 

Signs or symptoms of lung plague during life 16 

Smut in feed of farm animals, ill effects of 73 

corn, post mortem appearances of animals affected 

by 79 

prevention of il 1 effects from eating 81 

symptoms of the ill effects of 79 

treatment of animals affected by 80 

Spanish fever — {Sec splenic fever.) 

Special causes favoring the development of lung plague 

in the mountains 24 

Specific observations of post mortem appearances 97 

Spleen and liver, weights of 133 

Splenic fever, causes and nature of 106 

communication in stock yards 1 16 

curative treatment of 123 

definition of 84 

Dr. James Mease on 176 

examinations of blood aud secretions from cattle 

affected with 162 

in Arkansas 185, 197 

influence of the seasons on the development of 117 

in Georgia 195 

Illinois 182,191 

Indiana 191 

Kansas 179, 183, 185, 196 

Kentucky 182,190 

Missouri 181,186,196,197 

Nebraska 197 

New Jersey 195 



Patrc, 

Splenic fever in New York 194 

Ohio 193 

Pennsylvania 19.-), 196 

Pennsylvania in 1796 176 

Virginia 197 

nature of ijg 

non-transmission of, by northern or western stcck. 115 

of cattle, report of Prof. Gamgee on 82 

post mortem appearances in cases of. 92 

recapitulation of results of investigations of 200 

stages of — I Tlie incubation stage 87 

II. The period of invasion 89 

HI. The bleeding or congestive stage 89 

IV. Termination 91 

statistical and historical report on 175 

symptoms of 9/6 

the prevention of 124 

" tick theory" in Hy 

Statistical investigation of 1868 184 

Statistics of Dutch experiments in inoculation CO, 62 

losses by lung plague in the District of Columbia 

and vicinity 59 

weights of liver and spleen 133 

Stock yards, communication of splenic fever in 116 

Symptoms of lung plague during life 16 

the ill effects of smutty corji 79 

splenic fever 86 

T. 

Temperature in cases of lung plague 17 

Termination in splenic fever 91 

of lung plague 19 

Texas cattle disease — (See splenic fever.) 

statistical and historical report on 175 

fever — (See splenic fever.) 

" Tick theory" in splenic fever 118 

Treatment, medical, of the lung plague 34 

of animals affected by smutty corn 80 

of splenic fever 123 

IJ. 

United States, history of the lung plague in 12 

Urinary organs, post mortem appearances of 96 

V. 

Virginia, laws relative to diseases of farm animals in. .. 198 

Virginia, lung fever in 15 

Virginia, splenic fever in 197 

W. 

Weights of liver and spleen 133 

Woodward, Dr. J. J., report of, on the pathological 
anatomy and histology of the respiratory 
organs in the plenro-pncumonia of cattle 64 



L 93 8 



^IBR^RY ( 



cofvGRess 



•("■,ll. 



^'';',!i;i 



.'•f ';•!:"■'' 



. ■}<',• 


:i, 


i. 




'.': 






,' 
•1 < 

.•■ 

,1. 


Ii 






